Multi-axis Manipulator Kinematic Calibration using a Novel Linearized Finite Screw Deviation Model

This article proposes a method with a serial manipulator calibration technique using the linearized finite screw deviation model for calibrating the manipulator to reduce error in the workspace. With the emergence of robot technology, applications of the multi-axis manipulator have significantly increased. In previous research, many studies calibrated the multi-axis manipulator using end-effector tracking devices such as vision-sensor-based apparatus. However, the appliance of a special device for calibration can be resource-consuming in practical applications for applying every damaged manipulator. In this research, the proposed method helps the keep manipulator works appropriately in the workspace when the situation cannot afford those tracking devices because of the lack of resources such as budget and time. By designing a linearized finite screw deviation model to calculate the error of each axis of the manipulator from the non-continuous points trajectory of the end-effector, the error model becomes an affine function applicable in the global optimization method which can identify the deviation of the manipulator and leads to reduction of the error in the workspace. To validate the performance of the proposed method, simulation and the experiment were carried out with seven degrees of freedom manipulator.