Constant velocity control of a miniature pantograph with image based trajectory generation

This paper presents a methodological approach for the practical realization of high precision laser micromachining over shapes of arbitrary geometry. The scheme presented throughout the paper includes an easy-to-use way of reference generation via image processing for shapes that is mathematically difficult to represent. The necessary constraint of tracking the constant reference tangential velocity for high precision laser production is enabled via the so called spline polynomial interpolation method. The description of algorithmic steps for the acquisition of reference cartesian trajectory from an image is followed by the presentation of spline method and the controller used for the realization. The proposed approach is tested in experiments and the validity of the methodology is verified for practical implementation.