Computing Techniques for Robots, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1985

I. ALEKSANDER Kobler Unit for Information Technology Management, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, England It is now over half a decade since Joseph Engelberger wrote: 'Given a six-articulation arm of any configuration, software can be powerful enough to think only in tool coordinates. That is, a programmer concerns himself only with the tool on the end of the robot arm. He can think of the tool's frame of reference and com­ puter subroutines automatically make the various articulations move so as to accomplish the desired tool manipulation. ' As is often the case with statements of this kind, they are appealing and generally well-founded in technological feasibility. But in order to turn the prediction into reality it requires the dedication and in­ ventiveness of an international community of researchers. The object of this book is to provide a window on to some of the advances made by this community which go towards the fulfilment of Engelberger's predictions. A significant factor in the framework within which this work is being pursued is the phenomenal advance in the availability of inex­ pensive and highly compact computing power. It becomes increas­ ingly possible to imagine powerful microprocessors providing local intelligence at key points in a robot arm Uoints, gripper, etc) by being connected through a communications network and controlled by some specially designated supervisory microchip.

1 Introduction.- Robotic Practice 10; Exploiting Mathematics 11; Making Sense of Sensors 12; Computing for Design 13; Future Directions 14.- I: Sensor Information Processing.- 2 A method for grasping randomly oriented objects using touch sensing.- 18; Theory 19; Development of Sensors and Techniques 22; Examples of Applications 26; Programming 30; Error Recovery 31; An Outline Design for a Gripper with Touch Sensing 33; Conclusions 33.- 3 Method of contour recognition.- 37; The Method of Automatic Detection of Objects 38; The Method of Automatic Removal of Isolated Disturbances 43; The Method of Derivation of Contours 44; The Method of Recognizing Contours Detected 46; Discussion 49.- 4 The design of sensors for a mobile teleoperator robot.- —Teleoperator and Industrial Robotics 58; On the Proper Interface between Man and Machine 60; The QMCAI Mark 5 Robot 60; The Interface between Robot Hardware and Computer 64; Low-level Robot Control Software 66; The Sensor System 67; Layout of the Electronic Subsystems 81; Conclusions 81; Acknowledgements 83.- II: Mathematical Concerns.- 5 Constrained average path tracking for industrial robots.- 88; Equation of Motion for Mechanical Manipulator 90; Discrete-time Model of Manipulator 91; Estimation of Parameters 92; Path-Tracking Controller 96; Desired Joint Path 97; Concluding Remarks 98; Acknowledgement 99.- 6 The application of spline functions to trajectory generation for computer-controlled manipulators.- 102; Analysis 104; Discussion 109; Acknowledgement 110.- 7 Kinematic equations of robot manipulators.- 112; Geometric Modelling of a Manipulator 114; Kinematic Modelling of a Manipulator 123; Conclusion 129.- 8 Solution of kinematic equations for robot manipulators.- 131; Coordinate System of Robot Arm 132; Solution of Arm Motion 133; Solution of Wrist Motion 138; Solution for Robot Manipulators 143; Example: RRR Arm with a Modified Euler Wrist 145; Conclusion 147.- III: Practical Concerns.- 9 A strategy to achieve an assembly by means of an inaccurate, flexible robot.- 152; The Hypotheses of Work 153; Assembly Achievement 155; Experimentation 167; Conclusion 176.- 10 Trajectory planning for a multi-arm robot in an assembly task.- 179; Definitions and Hypotheses 180; Environment Modelling 183; The Path Search 185; Experimentation 187; Conclusion 195.- 11 Cooperation of two manipulators in assembly tasks.- 197; A Functional Classification of Assemblies Using Two Arms 198; Description of the Experiments Carried Out 203; Problems Set by Using Two Arms 211; Conclusion 214.- IV: Computer Aids to Robot Design.- 12 A CAD system for programming and simulating robots’ actions.- 223; The Robotic Facilities of CATIA 223; Using the Robotic Facilities 232; Conclusion 237; Acknowledgements 246.- 13 The development of a suite of programs for the analysis of mechanisms.- 249; Program Outline 250; Proposed Method of Operation 253; Procedural Example 254; Conclusions 276; Acknowledgements 276.