Vision based robot programming

Programming of industrial robots is normally carried out via so-called "Teach" or "Offline" programming methodologies. Both methodologies have associated weaknesses like a high time consumption for programming on sculptured surfaces (especially "Teach"), and both methodologies cannot, at the same time, carry information of the real work piece and the ideal work piece (CAD-model). To be able to see both the real and ideal world is especially important when the industrial robot is used in manufacturing processes like machining, grinding, deburring etc. where the difference between the real and ideal world represents the material removal. This paper presents a new vision based programming methodology which combines information of the real and ideal world, especially adapted for robot grinding and deburring operations. Further, the presented methodology is especially developed with simplicity in mind when it comes to man-machine communication. Thus, a standard marker pen can be used by the operator to draw the robot path directly onto the work piece. This line is captured by a vision system and finally leads to the generation of the robot path. The presented methodology is a further development of the previous work of the authors as presented in [1,2], especially concerning optimization of the robot tool positioning with respect to a work piece surface.