Robotic Tool Path Planning Using Tool-Axis Rotation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current robotic tool path planning methods face challenges due to complex robot kinematics, requiring user input and being inefficient, especially when dealing with obstacles like singularities, joint limits, and collisions, which can lead to path failures and increased processing times.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that generates and analyzes multiple robotic tool paths in three-dimensional space, utilizing the additional degree of freedom of rotation about the tool's longitudinal axis to avoid obstacles, and presents a two-dimensional representation of feasible paths, allowing for automated path planning and selection of optimal paths based on performance parameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If semi-graphical or semi-automatic approaches are used for tool path planning, then user input is required which improves flexibility, but the complexity of robot kinematics makes path planning challenging and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automated path planning by itself without requiring user input. The computer-implemented method automatically generates tool paths, identifies obstacles, and determines feasible paths through algorithmic processing of robotic system data and workpiece data, making the system self-sufficient in the path planning task.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual/semi-automatic path planning methods with an automated computational system. The computer-implemented method uses algorithms to automatically generate and evaluate multiple possible tool paths, substituting human operators with automated software that processes kinematic data and identifies feasible paths efficiently.
2Reliability
If multiple possible robotic tool paths are generated and analyzed, then the likelihood of finding feasible paths that avoid obstacles is improved, but the processing time and computational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis by generating multiple possible tool paths in advance and identifying obstacles before execution. The computer-implemented method proactively evaluates different paths and determines feasibility upfront, allowing the robotic system to select the best path before actual material processing begins, thus ensuring reliability without excessive delays during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent generates a plurality of possible tool paths beyond what is strictly necessary, evaluating multiple alternatives to ensure feasible paths are found. By considering more paths than the minimum required, the system increases the probability of identifying successful paths that avoid obstacles, accepting some additional computational effort as a trade-off for enhanced reliability.
3Productivity
If automated path planning is implemented without user input, then processing time is reduced and efficiency is improved, but the ability to handle complex kinematic constraints and obstacles may be limited
Solution Approach 1:
The computer-implemented method handles complex kinematic constraints by varying and evaluating multiple parameters automatically. The system adjusts path parameters, robotic system parameters, and evaluation criteria through algorithmic processing, allowing it to adapt to different kinematic scenarios and obstacle configurations without user intervention while maintaining high efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
In some aspects, computer-implemented methods for selecting a robotic tool path for a manufacturing processing system to execute a material processing sequence in three-dimensional space can include: providing to a computer-readable product including robotic system data of a robotic tool handling system and workpiece data relating to a processing path of a tool along the workpiece; generating a plurality of possible robotic tool paths to be performed to move the tool along the processing path; identifying one or more obstacles, or an absence of obstacles, associated with the robotic tool paths; comparing robotic tool paths based on a predetermined robotic parameter to be controlled as the tool moves from the start point to the end point; and based on the identified obstacles, determining feasible tool paths, between the start point and the end point that avoid the obstacles, that can be obtained by adjusting the predetermined robotic parameter.