Trajectory Planning for Contact-Based Robotic Applications by Use of a 3D Stereo Depth Camera

In this paper a robotic solution is introduced to automate the generation of trajectories in contact-based industrial operations, through the use of a 3D stereo depth camera. The 3D camera is used to detect the workpiece features like color, depth, position and orientation, and the trajectory to be followed by the tool contact point is then generated only based on this information. A force sensor is then used to guarantee a constant contact force between the robot end-effector and the workpiece, and to adjust possible errors in the generated trajectory. The system performance, on curvilinear non-flat workpiece, is validated through glue deposition application in footwear manufacturing.