Bracing Approach to High Speed Manipulation with Lightweight Robot Arms

摘要

The concept of bracing a robot arm to increase its rigidity during small, accurate motions of its end point is examined. The approach eliminates the conflict between fine motion speed, which is enhanced by rigidity, and large motion speed, which is enhanced by light weight. With bracing, the arm is temporarily attached at a bracing point to a stationary supporting structure or the work piece (if it is large) during the fine motion phase of the task. Motion is carried out by additional degrees of freedom such as an end effector. By enabling robot arms to work in this manner, lighter, faster, less expensive, and more accurate robot arms may be possible.