Robust industrial robot real-time positioning system using VW-camera-space manipulation method

Purpose – Vision-based positioning without camera calibration, using uncalibrated industrial robots, is a challenging research problem. To address the issue, an uncalibrated industrial robot real-time positioning system has been developed in this paper. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The software and hardware of this system as well as the methodology are described. Direct and inverse kinematics equations that map joint space into “camera space” are developed. The camera-space manipulation (CSM) algorithm has been employed and improved with varying weights on camera samples of the robot end effector, and the improved CSM is named VW-CSM. The experiments of robot positioning have been conducted using the traditional CSM algorithm and the varying-weight CSM (VW-CSM) algorithm, respectively, both without separate camera calibration. The impact on the accuracy and real-time performance of the system caused by different weights has been examined and discussed. Findings – The experimental results show that the accuracy and real-time performance of the system with the VW-CSM algorithm is better than the one with using the original CSM algorithm, and the impact on the accuracy and real-time performance of the system caused by different weights has been revealed. Originality/value – The accuracy and real-time performance of the system with the VW-CSM algorithm is verified. These results prove that the developed system using the VW-CSM algorithm can satisfy the requirements of most industrial applications and can be widely used in the field of industrial robots.