Feasibility Study of Using Industrial Robot for Ultrasound Testing: Final Progress Report.

摘要

The purpose of this program is to study the feasibility of employing an articulated industrial robot arm to perform ultrasound scanning of a work piece. The robot arm suitable for such application is the Unimation PUMA 560 manipulator with six degrees of freedom. This research is intended to study the basic properties of several issues which arise in the operations of the UTB facility at LLNL. These issues involve the understanding of control algorithms for collision-free motions of the robot arm with and without redundant kinematics, trajectory generation schemes for automated surface tracking based on 3D CAD/CAM model of the work piece, and the effective use of computer vision and ultrasound sensor to achieve position calibration of a work piece and on-line trajectory modification for accurate surface tracking. The robotics research laboratory at UC Davis has a research robotic system based on a six degrees-of-freedom Unimation PUMA 560 arm and a VAL-II controller. This system is used as a research tool for the investigation. 20 refs., 8 figs.