Calibration of a Six-Axis Serial Robotic Arm Mounted to a Moveable Base

Volume 13, Issue 2

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Publication Details

Published Date:
Authors: Michael Allman, David Novotny, Josh Gordon
Citation: "Michael Allman, David Novotny, Josh Gordon, ""Calibration of a Six-Axis Serial Robotic Arm Mounted to a Moveable Base ,"" The Journal of the CMSC, Vol. 13, No. 2, Autumn 2018"

Abstract

In this work, we present the calibration of a serial robotic positioner mounted to a rail system. This robot is one of two positioners that make up the Large Antenna Positioning System (LAPS) in the Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The out-of-box positioning accuracy is approximately 1 mm. Using a custom Python package developed at NIST for automation, analysis, and control, we calibrated the robot’s kinematic model, improving the positioning accuracy to approximately 0.2 mm over a total working volume of approximately 10 m3. We discuss effects detrimental to accuracy such as mechanical backlash (hysteresis) and spatial drift and methods to mitigate them.