A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING A FEATURE ON AN OBJECT USING A REDUNDANT AXIS

摘要

A system and method for seam tracking in real time without path preprogramming uses as least two degrees of freedom and at least one degree of freedom created by a redundant axis. A robot can be used to weld or apply adhesive or sealant to a workpiece that is mounted on a positioner that it is movable relative to a base of the robot as a movable end of the robot tracks a seam on the workpiece. A sensor expresses a seam trajectory in workpiece coordinated and queues the coordinates in a computer processor so that the coordinates can be extracted from the processor to cause the movable end of the robot to track the seam. The workpiece can remain stationary and the robot base can be moved or the base can remain stationary and the workpiece can be moved or both the workpiece and the robot base can be moved. Any reasonable number of redundant axes can be utilized so long as there is one control parameter independently defined for each degree of freedom greater than six. Previous seam tracking systems do not have more than one degree of freedom with one of the degrees of freedom being created by redundant axes and previous systems do not automatically move the robot base relative to the workpiece.