Uncalibrated Eye in Hand Visual Servoing for Fixtureless Assembly Automation

Abstract

This research attempts to examine the eye in hand configuration for visual servoing as a means of adding flexibility to pick and place operations for an assembly work-cell. It is researched if a closed loop system using the newest real time image processing hardware can be made. State of the art anthromorphic robot arm with a spherical wrist (6 axis) from Kuka Germany and image processing with a high speed camera from DVT corp. is employed for real time feedback. The objects to be assembled were on a flat plane in any orientation as in the existing industrial setup. A new algorithm which employs 'error minimization in the image plane' without using camera calibration is developed and implemented to demonstrate satisfactory performance.