3D SURFACE-TRACKING WITH A ROBOT MANIPULATOR

This paper presents incremental research in Surface Tracking with a ro bot manipulator. Surface tracking is an important operation in self-te aching and exploratory tasks in unknown environments, and to cope with inaccurate workspace and environment modeling. The paper addresses th e problem of 3D Surface-Tracking in contact, where the main concern is the angle formed between the end-effector and the surface. This study constitutes a first approach to the more general and important proble m of surface following in contact. The new contribution is the 3D trac king operation based on a new alignment control algorithm using real-t ime contact force feedback. Simulations, and experimental results usin g the PUMA 560 manipulator demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed algorithm. This paper also presents a method for tool-tip contact fra me calibration using forces/moments data.