Using Full Pose Measurement for Serial Robot Calibration

To ensure smooth robot operations, parameters of its kinematic model and a registration transformation between robot base and world coordinate frame must be determined. Both tasks require data acquired by external sensors that can measure either 3D locations or full 6D poses. We show that use of full pose measurements leads to much smaller robot orientation errors when compared with the outcome of calibration and registration procedures based on 3D data only. Robot position errors are comparable for both types of data. The conclusion is based on extensive simulations of 7 degrees of freedom robot arm and different levels of pseudo-noise perturbing both positional and rotational components of pose.

Automated summary

To ensure smooth robot operations, it is important to determine the parameters of the robot's kinematic model and the registration transformation between the robot base and the world coordinate frame. The use of full pose measurements can significantly reduce robot orientation errors compared to calibration and registration procedures based on 3D data only. Robot position errors are comparable for both types of data.