Shaft Insertion for Moving Object Using Robot Manipulator with Cross PSD and Vibration End-effector

We have studied the position sensor with the high speed and precision sensing using a cross PSD. We developed shaft insertion robot for a moving object applying this sensor. For various reasons, position error that can not be avoided between the center of shaft and the center of the sensor occurred. We developed the vibration end-effector to correct this position error. The new end-effector has a vibration mechanism that gives spiral vibration to the shaft, and leads the shaft to a correct position semiactively if shaft insertion fails. This paper shows the improvement of the ability of position error correction by the vibration end-effector for a still object. Using the robot system with this new end-effector, we experimented on shaft insertion for a moving object in various situations. The robot could insert the shaft with a clearance of 50 μ m at a speed of 80mm/s. The moving velocity of the target doubled compared with our previous system, and the clearance became half.