Improving Automated Insertion Task in Robotics by Reducing Registration Error

Published

April 2, 2021

Author(s)

Geraldine S. Cheok, Marek Franaszek, Karl Van Wyk, Jeremy Marvel

Abstract

A peg-in-hole operation is representative of common tasks performed in assembly lines by robots. It requires registration of the coordinate frame where a part resides to the robot frame. Poor registration causes misalignment of the peg and the hole which will result in a failed insertion of the peg. In this study, the dependence of the outcome of the insertion task on the quality of registration is investigated. It was shown in earlier studies that Restoring Rigid-Body Condition (RRBC) leads to decreased registration error. This study shows the improvement in the Pass/Fail rate when the registration error is reduced. A robot arm operated in position control mode was used to perform the insertion without performing any search algorithms. Conventional, point-based registration and registration based on the RRBC method were used to transform 80 target points from part frame to robot frame. A simple Pass/Fail metric was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the method. The RRBC method yielded substantial reduction in failed insertions, especially for tighter tolerances.

Proceedings Title

9th International Precision Assembly Seminar

Conference Dates

December 13-15, 2020

Conference Location

Kitzbuhel, AT

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72632-4_8

Local Download

Keywords

peg-in-hole experiments, registration, registration error, rigid-body, target registration error

Citation

Cheok, G. , Franaszek, M. , Van Wyk, K. and Marvel, J. (2021), Improving Automated Insertion Task in Robotics by Reducing Registration Error, 9th International Precision Assembly Seminar , Kitzbuhel, AT, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72632-4_8, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=925450 (Accessed October 8, 2025)