Ernest L. Hall

Front Matter: Volume 7878

This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 7878, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, and the Conference Committee listing.

Front Matter: Volume 6764

This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 6764, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, and the Conference Committee listing.

Industrial Robots For Measurement And Inspection Purposes

The use of industrial robots for measuring and testing is becoming increasingly significant as a component of flexible production. In the early stages of their development robots were used mainly for monotonous and repetitive tasks such as handling and spot welding. Thanks to improvements in the precision with which they work and also in control and regulation technologies, it is possible today to employ robots as flexible, sensor-assisted and even intellligent tools for measuring and testing. As a result, however, much higher accuracy is demanded of the robots used for such purposes. In addition, robot measurement and acceptance test requirements have become more exacting. The present paper is based on recommendations that have been developed by cooperative work of the Association of German-Engineers (VDI/GMA). The appropriate working group is entitled Industrial Robots -Measurement and Inspection. The author is the chairman of this working group. Apart from the technical equipment involved, the use of industrial robots for measuring purposes also calls for the devi-sing and programming of appropriate measuring strategies. In this context the planning and implementation of measuring projects have to be discussed along with software reliability and on-line/off-line programming strategies. Four different utilizations of robots for measuring and testing are presented and illustrated by examples.