Patent ID: 6366830
Filing Date: 2002-04-02
Classification: B25J,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
In a specimen processing system that includes a robot arm mechanism in nominal alignment relative to a specimen holder positioned on a support surface of a support structure and having a clear area through which an end effector reaches to remove a specimen from or place a specimen in or on the specimen holder, the support surface of the support structure having mounting elements and the specimen holder having alignment surface features that are matable to the mounting elements, a method of determining an actual alignment of the robot arm mechanism relative to the specimen holder that differs from the nominal alignment to ensure that the end effector can remove specimens from and place specimens in the holder, comprising:placing a component emulating fixture on the support surface of the support structure, the fixture being matable to the mounting elements to assume the actual alignment position of the specimen holder and including first and second locating features positioned to engage the end effector into extension position; establishing cooperative interaction between the robot arm mechanism and the first locating feature to acquire a first set of robot arm position data; establishing cooperative interaction between the robot arm mechanism and the second locating feature to acquire a second set of robot arm mechanism position data; and using the first and second sets of robot arm mechanism position data in conjunction with robot arm mechanism equations of motion to determine whether alignment positioning of the specimen holder relative to the robot arm mechanism represents an offset in the actual alignment in relation to the nominal alignment.