Detecting robotic calibration accuracy discrepancies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11931908-B2
Application number	US-202117203147-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2021
Priority date	Mar 16, 2021
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for measuring and reporting calibration accuracy of robots and sensors assigned to perform a task in an operating environment. One of the methods includes receiving a request to perform a calibration process for one or more robots in an operating environment; in response, performing the calibration process including executing a calibration program that generates movement data representing movements by the one or more robots within the operating environment; computing a measure of calibration accuracy from the movement data; receiving an input program to be executed in the operating environment; determining that the measure of calibration accuracy does not satisfy an accuracy tolerance of the input program; and in response, generating a notification representing that the measure of calibration accuracy generated from performing the calibration process does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance of the input program.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a request to perform a calibration process for one or more physical robots in an operating environment;
in response, performing the calibration process including executing a calibration program that generates movement data representing movements by the one or more physical robots within the operating environment;
computing a measure of calibration accuracy from the movement data, wherein the calibration accuracy represents a level of accuracy for poses of the one or more physical robots after performing the calibration process;
receiving an input program to be executed by the one or more physical robots in the operating environment;
computing, based on the measure of calibration accuracy and the input program, a measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program by the one or more physical robots in the operating environment;
determining that the input program cannot be executed on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment based on the computed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program not satisfying an accuracy tolerance of the input program; and
in response, generating a notification representing that the input program cannot be executed on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the notification comprises generating a user interface presentation that indicates that the computed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance of the input program.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user interface presentation includes data representing which portion of the input program is associated with the accuracy tolerance.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: receiving, through the user interface presentation, user input representing the accuracy tolerance of the input program.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input program defines motions to be executed by a virtual representation of the one or more physical robots in the operating environment, and further comprising:
updating the virtual representation of the one or more physical robots using the movement data to represent the measure of calibration accuracy of the one or more physical robots in the virtual representation,
wherein determining that the input program cannot be executed on the one or more physical robots comprises executing the input program on the virtual representation and determining that a measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program on the virtual representation does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance of the input program.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the notification comprises generating the notification without executing the input program by the one or more physical robots in the operating environment.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
repeatedly executing the input program on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment; and
repeatedly recomputing the measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program during the repeated executions of the input program,
wherein determining that the recomputed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance specified by the input program occurs after a first iteration of executing the input program.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accuracy tolerance is generated based on the measure of the calibration accuracy.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the computed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program satisfies the accuracy tolerance; and
in response, executing the input program on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after one or more iterations of executing the input program on the one or more physical robots, computing an updated measure of calibration accuracy;
determining that the updated measure of calibration accuracy does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance; and
in response, generating a notification representing that the updated measure of calibration accuracy for the one or more physical robots does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance of the input program.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising terminating execution of the input program on the one or more physical robots.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accuracy tolerance represents an accuracy tolerance for a portion of robots in the operating environment, and wherein the notification includes information representing which portion of robots in the operating environment have the measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program that does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance.

13. A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform respective operations, the operations comprising:
receiving a request to perform a calibration process for one or more physical robots in an operating environment;
in response, performing the calibration process including executing a calibration program that generates movement data representing movements by the one or more physical robots within the operating environment;
computing a measure of calibration accuracy from the movement data, wherein the calibration accuracy represents a level of accuracy for poses of the one or more physical robots after performing the calibration process;
receiving an input program to be executed by the one or more physical robots in the operating environment;
computing, based on the measure of calibration accuracy and the input program, a measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program by the one or more physical robots in the operating environment;
determining that the input program cannot be executed on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment based on the computed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program not satisfying an accuracy tolerance of the input program; and
in response, generating a notification representing that the input program cannot be executed on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein generating the notification comprises generating a user interface presentation that indicates that the computed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance of the input program.

15. The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
repeatedly executing the input program on the one or more physical robots in the operating environment; and
repeatedly recomputing the measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program during the repeated executions of the input program,
wherein determining that the recomputed measure of execution accuracy for executing the input program does not satisfy the accuracy tolerance specified by the input program occurs after a first iteration of executing the input program.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the input program defines motions to be executed by a virtual representation of the one or more physical robots in the operating environment, and further comprising:
updating the virtual representation of the one or more physical robots using the movement data to represent the measure of calibration accuracy of the one or more physical robots in the virtual representation,
wherein

Assignees

• Intrinsic Innovation Llc

Inventors

• Kelch Timothy Robert
• Holz Dirk

Classifications

• B25J9/1692 Primary

  Calibration of manipulator · CPC title

• G05B2219/39024

  Calibration of manipulator · CPC title

• G05B2219/50391

  Robot · CPC title