Automatic Calibration of Tool Center Point for Six Degree of Freedom Robot

The traditional tool center point (TCP) calibration method requires the operator to use their experience to set the actual position of the tool center point. To address this lengthy workflow and low accuracy, while improving accuracy and efficiency for time-saving and non-contact calibration, this paper proposes an enhanced automatic TCP calibration method based on a laser displacement sensor and implemented on a cooperative robot with six degrees of freedom. During the calibration process, the robot arm will move a certain distance along the X and Y axes and collect the information when the tool passes through the laser during the process to calculate the runout of the tool, and then continue to move a certain distance along the X and Y axes for the second height calibration. After the runout angle is calculated and calibrated by triangulation, the runout calibration is completed and the third X and Y axis displacement is performed to find out the exact position of the tool on the X and Y axes. Finally, the tool is moved to a position higher than the laser, and the laser is triggered by moving downward to obtain information to complete the whole experimental process and receive the calibrated tool center position. The whole calibration method is, firstly, verified in the virtual simulation environment and then implemented on the actual cooperative robot. The results of the proposed TCP calibration method for the case of using a pin tool can achieve a positioning deviation of 0.074 and 0.125 mm for the robot moving speeds of 20 and 40 mm/s, respectively. The orientation deviation in the x-axis are 0.089 and -0.184 degrees for the robot moving speeds of 20 and 40 mm/s, respectively. The positioning repeatability of +/- 0.083 mm for the moving speed of 20 mm/s is lower than +/- 0.101 mm for the speed of 40 mm/s. It shows that lower moving speed can obtain higher accuracy and better repeatability. This result meets the requirements of TCP calibration but also achieves the purpose of being simple, economical, and time-saving, and it takes only 60 s to complete the whole calibration process.