Developing a new low-cost XY table using optical pickup head with adaptive controller

A new XY table has been designed for low cost purpose and high positioning accuracy. The moving mechanism was made by a commercially available optical pickup-head unit with two added rods and one platform. The position of the platform was measured through the reflected signals on photo diodes from a fixed compact disc. In order to achieve high accuracy of trajectory following, we proposed an adaptive controller to counter the influence of coupling effects and platform mass variations. First results have shown the high potentiality of using this architecture to achieve high accurate positioning of XY table with very cheap price.