A Supervised Autonomous Robotic System for Complex Surface Inspection and Processing

摘要

The invention disclosed herein describes a supervised autonomy system designed to precisely model, inspect and process the surfaces of complex three-dimensional objects. The current application context for this system is laser coating removal of aircraft, but this invention is suitable for use in a wide variety of applications that require close, precise positioning and maneuvering of an inspection or processing tool over the entire surface of a physical object. For example, this system, in addition to laser coating removal, could also apply new coatings, perform fine-grained or gross inspection tasks, deliver and/or use manufacturing process tools or instruments, and/or verify the results of other manufacturing processes such as but not limited to welding, riveting, or the placement of various surface markings or fixtures.

主权项

1. A method of performing surface processing on a three dimensional object using a robotic manipulator, with a stationary or mobile base, in a work environment comprising the steps of:
obtaining a base model of said three dimensional object; generating a surface model from said base model by performing a surface scan of said three dimensional object and augmenting said base model with range data and surface property data obtained from said scan; planning a temporal sequence of states of said robotic manipulator to maximize processing of said surface of said three dimensional object; scanning said surface of said three dimensional model before said surface is processed to control or modulate a processing tool connected to said robotic manipulator; processing said surface with said processing tool. scanning said surface of said three dimensional model as said surface is being processed and updating said surface model with new surface property data; adjusting said set of positions and poses for said robotic manipulator based on said updated surface model; and contintinuing processing of said surface and said updating of said surface model until said surface reaches a desired state.