EP0092021A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Drillhole centerline determining device and its use for robot teaching and calibration
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1983-01-28
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2003-01-28
Abstract
Abstract A drillhole centerline determining device comprising an interposer (7) having a central pocket enables a robot (5) to probe the interposer to learn the location and orientation of the desired drillhole. The interposer is a mushroom shaped device with a planar head (10) and a stem (9) dimensioned to fit snugly in the hole to be drilled. The interposer, in addition to the planar head from which the perpendicular can be calculated through multiple probes, has a central pocket (11) concentric to the interposer stem. The method of using the drillhole centerline determining interposer is to place a number of such interposers manually in position in holes in a master part located in the work envelope of the robot. The robot operator prepositions the probe at an initial position facing the pocket of the interposer for a drillhole locating sequence for the related drill hole. In sequence, the robot moves the probe from the initial position sufficient to clear the edge of the pocket and by multiple probes determines the plane of the interposer surface platform. The robot then adjusts the yaw and pitch of the probe to orient the probe orthogonal to the platform plane (a vector parallel to the desired drillhole centerline axis). The robot, with orientation vector stored, now locates the XYZ coordinates of the drillhole by pocket probing actions determining the epicenter of the pocket. With orientation vector (pitch and yaw) known, and with coordinates (XYZ) known, the drillhole is determined.
Inventors
- 👤 Russell Highsmith Taylor
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 09:33
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01B; G01B7/00; G01B7/004; G01B7/008; B; B25; B25J; B25J17/00; B25J17/02; B25J17/0208; B25J9/00; B25J9/02; B25J9/023; B25J9/026; B25J9/16; B25J9/1679; B25J9/1692; G01B21/00; G01B21/10; G01B21/12; G01B7/30; G01B7/31; G05; G05B; G05B19/00; G05B19/02; G05B19/42; G05B2219/00; G05B2219/30; G05B2219/40; G05B2219/40087; G05B2219/45; G05B2219/45083; G05B2219/49; G05B2219/49113; G05B2219/50; G05B2219/50353; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T408/00; Y10T408/08; Y10T408/16; Y10T408/175
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
98 words
A drillhole centerline determining device, for use in robot probe (6) locating and orienting of drillhole axes (12) with respect to the coordinates of a master part, characterized by: an interposer (7) comprising a planarization platform (10) having a continuous platform surface defining a platform plane (13), with a central physical feature (11) with a characteristic shape defining an included point derivable from the characteristic shape;and mounting means (9) to affix said interposer to the master part with said planarization platform surface orthogonal to a desired drillhole axis and with the included point lying on the drillhole axis.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
98 words
A drillhole centerline determining device, for use in robot probe (6) locating and orienting of drillhole axes (12) with respect to the coordinates of a master part, characterized by: an interposer (7) comprising a planarization platform (10) having a continuous platform surface defining a platform plane (13), with a central physical feature (11) with a characteristic shape defining an included point derivable from the characteristic shape;and mounting means (9) to affix said interposer to the master part with said planarization platform surface orthogonal to a desired drillhole axis and with the included point lying on the drillhole axis.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
The device according to Claim 1, in which the physical feature is a pocket (11).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
56 words
The device according to Claim 1 in which said mounting means is a pin (9) affixed normal to the planarization platform, in which the central physical feature (11) is circular in sections parallel to the platform surface with all section centers on the drillhole axis (12) and the axis of the pin on the drillhole axis.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
21 words
The device according to Claim 1, further characterized by compliant means (15) on a contact surface (14) opposite said planarization platform.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
13 words
The device according to Claim 2, in which the pocket (11) is conical.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
23 words
The device according to Claim 5, in which the pocket (11) is larger below the platform surface (10) than at the platform surface.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
The device according to Claim 1, further characterized by means for sensing proximity of interposer and probe.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
19 words
The device according to Claim 1, further characterized by means (8, 16) for sensing contact between interposer and probe.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
18 words
The device according to claims 7 or 8, wherein a computer (4) is attached to said sensing means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
13 words
The device according to Claim 8, wherein said sensing means comprises force sensors.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
15 words
The device according to any of Claims 1-10, wherein the probe is a drill bit.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
166 words
The method of teaching a probe - trainable drill robot coordinates corresponding to a part, characterized by the following steps: positioning in the work envelope (2) of a drill robot a part (1) with one or more centerline determining interposers (7) each having a planarization platform (10) having a planarization surface orthogonal to the related drillhole centerline (12) and a probe-sensible feature (11) coaxial with the axis of the drillhole; prepositioning the robot probe (6) in an initial position above the probe-sensible feature of a drillhole centerline determining interposer; determining the plane (13) of the surface of such drillhole centerline determining interposer; positioning the probe to an orientation vector orthogonal to the plane of said drillhole centerline determining interposer, which vector is parallel to the as yet undetermined desired drillhole centerline; moving the probe to points unambiguously related to said probe-sensible feature; examining the probe-sensible feature to find the epicenter; calculating drill coordinates for the drillhole centerline parallel to the orientation vector passing through the epicenter.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
166 words
The method of teaching a probe - trainable drill robot coordinates corresponding to a part, characterized by the following steps: positioning in the work envelope (2) of a drill robot a part (1) with one or more centerline determining interposers (7) each having a planarization platform (10) having a planarization surface orthogonal to the related drillhole centerline (12) and a probe-sensible feature (11) coaxial with the axis of the drillhole; prepositioning the robot probe (6) in an initial position above the probe-sensible feature of a drillhole centerline determining interposer; determining the plane (13) of the surface of such drillhole centerline determining interposer; positioning the probe to an orientation vector orthogonal to the plane of said drillhole centerline determining interposer, which vector is parallel to the as yet undetermined desired drillhole centerline; moving the probe to points unambiguously related to said probe-sensible feature; examining the probe-sensible feature to find the epicenter; calculating drill coordinates for the drillhole centerline parallel to the orientation vector passing through the epicenter.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of Claim 12 further characterized by the additional step of moving the probe along the drillhole centerline axis until the point of the probe contacts the probe-sensible feature surface of the drillhole centerline determining interposer and calculating the scribe crosspoint on the surface of the master part.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of Claim 12, in which the probe-sensible feature is a pocket having a rim, and examining the pocket to find the pocket epicenter comprises probing the rim of the pocket to determine the pocket configuration, and calculating from the pocket configuration its epicenter.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
150 words
The method of Claim 14, in which the pocket cross-section is circular and examining the pocket comprises: moving said probe sideways along a chord selected by the computer until the probe contacts the lip of the pocket; returning the probe along the chord until the probe locates the opposite lip of the pocket at the other end of the chord; returning the probe to the midpoint of the chord which midpoint lies on a diameter of the circle formed by the lip of said pocket, said diameter being orthogonal to the chord; moving the probe along the diameter until the probe contacts one lip of the pocket; returning the probe along the diameter until the probe locates the opposite lip of the pocket; returning the probe to the midpoint of the diameter which is the point where the drillhole centerline axis intersects the plane of the drillhole centerline determining interposer.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
18 words
The method of any of Claims 12-15, further characterized by multiple iterations of probing actions to increase accuracy.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
99 words
The method of calibrating a probe-trainable robot with respect to a part, characterized by the following steps: positioning in the work envelope (2) of the robot (5) a part (1) with a plurality of centerline determining interposers (7) each having a planarization platform (10) with a planarization surface (13) and a probe sensible feature (11) coaxial to an axis (12) orthogonal to the planarization surface, the interposers having been positioned in known relationship to the part; probing the interposers to determine coordinates of location and orientation;and calculating the coordinates of the part from such coordinates of location and orientation.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
99 words
The method of calibrating a probe-trainable robot with respect to a part, characterized by the following steps: positioning in the work envelope (2) of the robot (5) a part (1) with a plurality of centerline determining interposers (7) each having a planarization platform (10) with a planarization surface (13) and a probe sensible feature (11) coaxial to an axis (12) orthogonal to the planarization surface, the interposers having been positioned in known relationship to the part; probing the interposers to determine coordinates of location and orientation;and calculating the coordinates of the part from such coordinates of location and orientation.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.