US 12,011,827 B2
Robot teaching with scans in and out of robot workspace
Thomas Andrew Fuhlbrigge, Ellington, CT (US); Carlos Martinez, South Windsor, CT (US); and Gregory Rossano, Enfield, CT (US)
Assigned to SCALABLE ROBOTICS INC., Ellington, CT (US)
Filed by SCALABLE ROBOTICS INC., Ellington, CT (US)
Filed on Apr. 12, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/301,716.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/704,194, filed on Apr. 27, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0166399 A1, Jun. 1, 2023
Int. Cl. B25J 9/16 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01)
CPC B25J 9/0081 (2013.01) [B25J 9/163 (2013.01); B25J 9/1664 (2013.01); B25J 9/1697 (2013.01)] 31 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A robot teaching system, comprising:
at least one 3D scanning device;
a pose-selection device held and manipulated by a user;
an external axis device having at least one degree of freedom (DOF) for altering a relative position or a relative orientation between a workpiece and the at least one 3D scanning device;
a computation device; and
a storage device in communication with the computation device, the storage device storing instructions executable by the computation device to:
cause the at least one 3D scanning device to capture a first 3D scan of the workpiece for one or more of the relative positions or relative orientations while the workpiece is positioned outside of a work area of the robot;
determine two or more best-fit geometries of the workpiece from the first 3D scan and creating a 3D representation of the workpiece from the two or more best-fit geometries, the two or more best-fit geometries including a plane or cylinder;
cause the at least one 3D scanning device to track a first pose of the pose-selection device proximal to the workpiece, wherein the first pose is in response to a user input and indicates one or more spatial points;
project the one or more spatial points to one or more geometric points having a predefined relationship to the 3D representation of the workpiece created from the two or more best-fit geometries; and
define a robot instruction based on the one or more geometric points.