Patent ID: 6070109
Filing Date: 2000-05-30
Classification: B25J,G05B

Abstract:
A method of calibrating a robot system having a robot arm that is supported on a base and includes a plurality of joints that have a set of default positions and are moveable into a plurality of joint positions to provide a plurality of robot arm orientations, comprising the steps of:(A) establishing a first reference location that remains fixed relative to the robot base;(B) establishing a second reference location on the robot arm;(C) automatically moving the robot arm into a plurality of orientations where at least one of the joints is in a position that is different from the position of the one joint in a previous orientation;(D) determining when the second reference location is at least one fixed distance from the first reference location;(E) determining each joint position associated with each orientation where the second reference location is the fixed distance from the first reference location; and(F) determining a calibration factor by comparing the default positions with the joint positions from step (E).