# Calculation of error, based on camera images

I am trying to measure the precision error of a gripper that is mounted to the flange of a 6 DOF industrial robot. The gripper-design is rather complex, therefore we would like to make sure it is operating precisely.

I think a simple way to measure the gripper-precision is to use a camera and visual markers on a piece that is gripped. See the following illustration of the setup. The colorful box mocks a part that is being gripped by the gray gripper that is mounted to the robot flange.

To get data to work with, I imagine the following procedure:

1. the robot picks up part 1
2. the robot holds the red side of the part in front of the camera, which takes a picture
3. the robot rotates the part by actuating its 6th joint by 90 degrees, the camera takes a picture of the green side
4. the robot rotates the part by another 90 degrees, the camera takes a picture (back side)
5. the robot rotates the part by another 90 degrees, the camera takes a picture
6. the robot places the part back in the nest
7. go back to step 1, until 10 iterations are completed

In summary: Each time the robot gripped the part, a batch of pictures from different sides are taken.

The error, that needs to be calculated, is defined as the pose-difference of the part that is caused by small errors in the gripper mechanism. The error has 6 dimensions.

The camera can be assumed to be calibrated.

Using two batches of pictures from two different grips: How can I use the image plane coordinates of the $$N$$ features attached to a part, to calculate the pose-difference of the part?

• Are you looking for absolute positioning in coordinate space, or repeatability? they are different for all robots generally you won't get much better than 0.1mm in absolute coordinates, repeatability of course can be around 10um...Otherwise, a 2d correlation between the photos and a comparison between the joints positioning (encoder positioning) would be my first thoughts....second..is it not possible to use an indicator? – morbo Nov 16 '19 at 0:34
• I want to measure and quantify the repeatability of the gripper attached to the robot. The gripper acts on parts that need to be positioned with high precision – Alex Nov 16 '19 at 17:27
• Positioning with robots is difficult beyond 0.1mm if you’re giving/expecting it to go to a prior generated coordinate...is that your case, or is the robots position already calibrated to begin with..or is that the assignment? – morbo Nov 16 '19 at 17:33