Image-based control of delta parallel robots via enhanced LCM-CSM to track moving objects

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a new vision-based control method, which enables delta-type parallel robots to track and manipulate objects moving in arbitrary trajectories. This constitutes an enhanced variant of the linear camera model-camera space manipulation (LCM-CSM). Design/methodology/approach After obtaining the LCM-CSM view parameters, a moving target’s position and its velocity are estimated in camera space using Kalman filter. The robot is then commanded to reach the target. The proposed control strategy has been experimentally validated using a PARALLIX LKF-2040, an academic delta-type parallel platform and seven different target trajectories for which the positioning errors were recorded. Findings For objects that moved manually along a sawtooth, zigzag or increasing spiral trajectory with changing velocities, a maximum positioning error of 4.31 mm was found, whereas objects that moved on a conveyor belt at constant velocity ranging from 7 to 12 cm/s, average errors between 2.2-2.75 mm were obtained. For static objects, an average error of 1.48 mm was found. Without vision-based control, the experimental platform used has a static positioning accuracy of 3.17 mm. Practical implications The LCM-CSM method has a low computational cost and does not require calibration or computation of Jacobians. The new variant of LCM-CSM takes advantage of aforementioned characteristics and applies them to vision-based control of parallel robots interacting with moving objects. Originality/value A new variant of the LCM-CSM method, traditionally used only for static positioning of a robot’s end-effector, was applied to parallel robots enabling the manipulation of objects moving along unknown trajectories.