Practical Point-to-Point Multiple-Goal Task Realization in a Robot Arm with a Rotating Table

This study presents a multiple-goal task realization in a system composed of a 6-d.o.f. robot arm and a one-axis rotating table. The problem is complex due to the existence of multiple goals and the kinematic redundancy of the system. We propose a design approach integrating the base placement, task sequencing and motion coordination methods. We show that this approach reduces the task completion time of the robot arm; the motion planning is realized through straight-line paths in the configuration space despite collision occurrences. Furthermore, we introduce a hybrid graph-search method combining the greedy nearest-neighbor method and the Dijkstra method to solve the motion coordination of the robot arm and the table. We show the effectiveness of the design approach and the search method through a time-constrained simulation-based optimization. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden and The Robotics Society of Japan, 2011