Application from Wiest AG at Automatica 2006

We demonstrated the operation and performance capability of our LaserLAB calibration system on the basis of a handling application. A control arm is picked up by a gripper, transported and inserted with high precision in the placement position and then rotated there. The slightest changes to the gripper tool cause the control arm to tilt.

We shifted the gripper position of the tool by a few centimetres. Next we calibrated the gripper tool with our measuring system – the application with the adjusted gripper then worked exactly as before.

With our LaserLAB measuring system, deviations can be measured and corrected under automated control. The measuring quadruple is the best measuring tool for this. The measuring quadruple is picked up by the gripper and the measuring balls attached to it are measured. All inaccuracies from the robot flange to the gripped component are found this way and so can be compensated.

With a swivelling gripper, we simulated a change to the gripper position of several centimetres, which was equivalent to a serious crash. The handling process could no longer run after the gripper displacement as the points in space no longer matched.

A subsequent measurement with LaserLAB and the measuring quadruple took about two minutes. The demonstration showed that the handling process then ran in perfect alignment without any manual re-teaching. The changes to the gripper tool were compensated by the robot on the basis of the transferred measuring data, so that the position of the held control arm was exactly the same as before.

For industrial applications this means that after a gripper crashes it is not necessary to re-teach for hours, but that production can be resumed after only a short time.

This allows our customers to plan their production quantities with confidence.