This study introduces a straightforward and cost-effective method to enhance the positional accuracy of a 6-axis serial robot using a double ball-bar (DBB). Kinematic errors, a primary source of inaccuracies in offline programming, are estimated and calibrated through circular tests. The kinematics of the robot are modeled using the Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) convention, and a mathematical relationship between radial deviation and kinematic errors is established. To avoid singularities, identifiable parameters are selected using singular value decomposition. The method involves three steps: measuring the tool center point (TCP) with the DBB, estimating key kinematic parameters, and verifying the calibration results. Redundant or less significant parameters are excluded to concentrate on the most impactful ones. During the process, the robot is commanded to trace a circular path while radial deviations are recorded. This data is then utilized to estimate and adjust the kinematic model. After recalculating and executing the circular path with the calibrated model, a notable reduction in deviation is achieved. This proposed approach requires no additional equipment and provides a quick, affordable solution for improving the accuracy of industrial robots while lowering maintenance costs.

The collaboration of robots and humans sharing workspace, can increase productivity and reduce production costs. However, occupational accidents resulting in injuries can increase, by removing the physical safety around the robot, and allowing the human to enter the workspace of the robot. In preventing occupational accidents, studies on recognizing humans, by installing various sensors around the robot and responding to humans, have been proposed. Using the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor, a wider range can be measured simultaneously, which has advantages in that the LiDAR sensor is less impacted by the brightness of light, and so on. This paper proposes a simple and fast method to recognize humans, and estimate the path of humans using a single stationary 360° LiDAR sensor. The moving object is extracted from background using the occupied grid map method, from the data measured by the sensor. From the extracted data, a human recognition model is created using CNN machine learning method, and the hyper-parameters of the model are set, using a grid search method to increase accuracy. The path of recognized human is estimated and tracked by the extended Kalman filter.

Servo mismatch, which affects positioning accuracy of multi-axis machine tools, is usually estimated via the circular test. However, due to mechanical restrictions in measuring instruments, the circular test using a double ball-bar is difficult to apply in miniaturized or super-large sized machine tools. Laser trackers are widely used to measure the form accuracy of parts and the positioning accuracy of driving systems. In this paper, a technique for the servo mismatch estimation of multi-axis machine tools is proposed via the circular test using a laser tracker. To verify the proposed technique, experiments using a double ball-bar and laser tracker are conducted in a 3-axis machine tool. The difference in the evaluation results is 0.05 msec. The servo mismatch for the miniaturized machine tool is also evaluated using the proposed technique.

This paper proposes a new model to compensate for errors of a five-axis machine tool. A matrix with error components, that is, an error matrix, is separated from the error synthesis model of a five-axis machine tool. Based on the kinematics and inversion of the error matrix which can be obtained not by using a numerical method, an error compensation model is established and used to calculate compensation values of joint variables. The proposed compensation model does not need numerical methods to find the compensation values from the error compensation model, which includes nonlinear equations. An experiment using a double ball-bar is implemented to verify the proposed model.