Sensor Fusion for Position Estimation in Robot-based Laser Material Processing

Journal of Laser Micro/Nanoengineering

Abstract

This paper investigates an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) based Sensor Fusion approach for robot tool center point (TCP) position estimation using a sensing unit consisting of multiple sensors.Data from an inertial measurement unit, axis encoders and two new optical sensors for relative speed estimation in the context of laser material processing is recorded.Performance of the approach is tested experimentally.Three different test trajectories are chosen to evaluate estimation performance, including an adaption of ISO 9283 trajectory for robot accuracy.Estimation results are compared to position measurements of a Laser Tracker system with measurement accuracy of +-28µm and position estimation of the robot controller of the used Universal Robots UR5e.

Authors 4

1. Philipp Walderich corresponding Aachen Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany

2. Leon Gorißen Aachen Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany

3. Thomas Käster Aachen Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany

4. Christian Hinke Aachen Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair for Laser Technology -RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstr. 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany