Multi-sensor measurement system for robotic drilling

In this paper we present a multi-sensor measurement system for robotic drilling. The system enables a robot to measure its 6D pose with respect to the work piece and to establish a reference coordinate system for drilling. The robot approaches the drill point and performs an orthogonal alignment with the work piece. Although the measurement systems are readily capable of achieving high position accuracy and low deviation to perpendicularity, experiments show that inaccuracies in the test scenario and slippage on the work piece when exerting clamping force considerably impact the results. With the current robotic drilling system an average position deviation of 0.334 mm and an average deviation to perpendicularity of 0.29° are achieved.