Calibration of the geometric parameters of robots without external sensors

This paper presents a new method for the calibration of the geometric parameters of the links and tool of serial robots. The main characteristics of the method is that no external sensor is needed (only the position sensors of the joints are required), and that it can be put to practice quickly and precisely. The identifiable parameters given by the proposed method are compared with those of the classical method using an external position sensor. The algorithm has been applied to a Puma 560 robot using its standard control system. Some practical issues concerning the experimental results are given