Simplified teaching of a playback-type industrial robot using ultrasonic devices

The present study is devoted to the development of a simplified teaching method whereby the control data of the 3-dimensional operations of a playback-type trial robot can be stored in a personal computer. The control data of the 3-dimensional operations are given using an instruction wand handled by an operator. The operator's task is only to track a desired robot path with the wand. The 3-dimensional position of the wand are measured by ultrasonic devices, the principle of which was developed for this study and is introduced in detail. In order to clarify the applicability of this method, experts were performed with respect to a continuous-path teaching and a pick-and-place task teaching which are typical jobs of robot operators.