Production Line Robot Calibration Verification Test Results

Abstract

This paper presents test results for a production line robot calibration solution. The tests were performed to evaluate aerospace performance capabilities of dressed robots (i.e., outfitted with tooling, cables and ancillary support accessories) for the shop floor. Off-the-shelf robotic systems are repeatable but generally are not accurate enough for aerospace applications. In order for dressed robots in a production cell to meet the tight tolerances they can be taught each position (this can be time consuming and inflexible); or they need to be calibrated and compensated in the production environment, under load and within the application’s working volume. The Boeing Robotics and Measurement Systems group teamed with New River Kinematics application engineers investigated the SA Robot Calibration Appliance (SARCA) solution to evaluate whether the calibration(s) can deliver zone calibrations to meet typical aerospace requirements. SARCA is a hardware and software system that allows users to network a precise metrology system and a robot controller. SARCA works in conjunction with a robot program to automate measurements of robot poses within different volumes and loads. SARCA then creates new kinematic parameter sets for different loads and volumes (e.g., Cal_Id1, Cal_Id2, …, Cal_Idn) for the robot; an ABB 6640 robot with an IRC5 ABB controller in this case.