Singularities

The American National Standard for Industrial Robots and Robot Systems — Safety
Requirements (ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999) defines a singularity as “a condition caused by the
collinear alignment of two or more robot axes resulting in unpredictable robot motion and
velocities.” It is most common in robot arms that utilize a “triple-roll wrist”. This is a wrist about
which the three axes of the wrist, controlling yaw, pitch, and roll, all pass through a common
point. An example of a wrist singularity is when the path through which the robot is traveling
causes the first and third axes of the robot’s wrist (i.e. robot's axes 4 and 6) to line up. The
second wrist axis then attempts to spin 180° in zero time to maintain the orientation of the end
effector. Another common term for this singularity is a “wrist flip”. The result of a singularity
can be quite dramatic and can have adverse effects on the robot arm, the end effector, and the
process. Some industrial robot manufacturers have attempted to side-step the situation by slightly
altering the robot’s path to prevent this condition. Another method is to slow the robot’s travel
speed, thus reducing the speed required for the wrist to make the transition. The ANSI/RIA has
mandated that robot manufacturers shall make the user aware of singularities if they occur while
the system is being manually manipulated.

A second type of singularity in wrist-partitioned vertically articulated six-axis robots occurs

The third and last type of singularity in wrist-partitioned vertically articulated six-axis robots
occurs when the wrist's center lies in the same plane as axes 2 and 3.

Singularities are closely related to the phenomena of gimbal lock, which has a similar root cause
of axes becoming lined up.

A video illustrating these three types of singular configurations is available here.[9]

The SCARA acronym stands for Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm or Selective Compliance
Articulated Robot Arm.
Articulated Robot: An articulated robot uses all the three revolute joints to access its work
space. Usually the joints are arranged in a “chain”, so that one joint supports another further in
the chain.

Continuous Path: A control scheme whereby the inputs or commands specify every point along
a desired path of motion. The path is controlled by the coordinated motion of the manipulator
joints.

Degrees Of Freedom (DOF): The number of independent motions in which the end effector can
move, defined by the number of axes of motion of the manipulator.

Gripper: A device for grasping or holding, attached to the free end of the last manipulator link;
also called the robot’s hand or end-effector.

Payload: The maximum payload is the amount of weight carried by the robot manipulator at
reduced speed while maintaining rated precision. Nominal payload is measured at maximum
speed while maintaining rated precision. These ratings are highly dependent on the size and
shape of the payload.

Pick And Place Cycle: See Figure. Pick and place Cycle is the time, in seconds, to execute the
following motion sequence: Move down one inch, grasp a rated payload; move up one inch;
move across twelve inches; move down one inch; ungrasp; move up one inch; and return to start
location.

Reach: The maximum horizontal distance from the center of the robot base to the end of its
wrist.

Accuracy: See Figure. The difference between the point that a robot is trying to achieve and the
actual resultant position. Absolute accuracy is the difference between a point instructed by the
robot control system and the point actually achieved by the manipulator arm, while repeatability
is the cycle-to-cycle variation of the manipulator arm when aimed at the same point.

Repeatability: See Figure. The ability of a system or mechanism to repeat the same motion or
achieve the same points when presented with the same control signals. The cycle-to-cycle error
of a system when trying to perform a specific task

Resolution: The smallest increment of motion or distance that can be detected or controlled by
the control system of a mechanism. The resolution of any joint is a function of encoder pulses
per revolution and drive ratio, and dependent on the distance between the tool center point and
the joint axis.

Robot Program: A robot communication program for IBM and compatible personal computers.
Provides terminal emulation and utility functions. This program can record all of the user
memory, and some of the system memory to disk files.
Maximum Speed: The compounded maximum speed of the tip of a robot moving at full
extension with all joints moving simultaneously in complimentary directions. This speed is the
theoretical maximum and should under no circumstances be used to estimate cycle time for a
particular application. A better measure of real world speed is the standard twelve inch pick and
place cycle time. For critical applications, the best indicator of achievable cycle time is a
physical simulation.

Servo Controlled: Controlled by a driving signal which is determined by the error between the
mechanism's present position and the desired output position.

Via Point: A point through which the robot's tool should pass without stopping; via points are
programmed in order to move beyond obstacles or to bring the arm into a lower inertia posture
for part of the motion.

Work Envelope: A three-dimensional shape that defines the boundaries that the robot
manipulator can reach; also known as reach envelope.

 Number of axes – two axes are required to reach any point in a plane; three axes are
required to reach any point in space. To fully control the orientation of the end of the
arm(i.e. the wrist) three more axes (yaw, pitch, and roll) are required. Some designs (e.g.
the SCARA robot) trade limitations in motion possibilities for cost, speed, and accuracy.

 Degrees of freedom – this is usually the same as the number of axes.

 Working envelope – the region of space a robot can reach.

 Kinematics – the actual arrangement of rigid members and joints in the robot, which
determines the robot's possible motions. Classes of robot kinematics include articulated,
cartesian, parallel and SCARA.

 Carrying capacity or payload – how much weight a robot can lift.

 Speed – how fast the robot can position the end of its arm. This may be defined in terms
of the angular or linear speed of each axis or as a compound speed i.e. the speed of the
end of the arm when all axes are moving.

 Acceleration – how quickly an axis can accelerate. Since this is a limiting factor a robot
may not be able to reach its specified maximum speed for movements over a short
distance or a complex path requiring frequent changes of direction.

 Accuracy – how closely a robot can reach a commanded position. When the absolute
position of the robot is measured and compared to the commanded position the error is a
measure of accuracy. Accuracy can be improved with external sensing for example a
vision system or Infra-Red. See robot calibration. Accuracy can vary with speed and
position within the working envelope and with payload (see compliance).
  Repeatability – how well the robot will return to a programmed position. This is not the
same as accuracy. It may be that when told to go to a certain X-Y-Z position that it gets
only to within 1 mm of that position. This would be its accuracy which may be improved
by calibration. But if that position is taught into controller memory and each time it is
sent there it returns to within 0.1mm of the taught position then the repeatability will be
within 0.1mm.

Accuracy and repeatability are different measures. Repeatability is usually the most important
criterion for a robot and is similar to the concept of 'precision' in measurement—see accuracy
and precision. ISO 9283 [8] sets out a method whereby both accuracy and repeatability can be
measured. Typically a robot is sent to a taught position a number of times and the error is
measured at each return to the position after visiting 4 other positions. Repeatability is then
quantified using the standard deviation of those samples in all three dimensions. A typical robot
can, of course make a positional error exceeding that and that could be a problem for the process.
Moreover, the repeatability is different in different parts of the working envelope and also
changes with speed and payload. ISO 9283 specifies that accuracy and repeatability should be
measured at maximum speed and at maximum payload. But this results in pessimistic values
whereas the robot could be much more accurate and repeatable at light loads and speeds.
Repeatability in an industrial process is also subject to the accuracy of the end effector, for
example a gripper, and even to the design of the 'fingers' that match the gripper to the object
being grasped. For example, if a robot picks a screw by its head, the screw could be at a random
angle. A subsequent attempt to insert the screw into a hole could easily fail. These and similar
scenarios can be improved with 'lead-ins' e.g. by making the entrance to the hole tapered.

 Motion control – for some applications, such as simple pick-and-place assembly, the
robot need merely return repeatably to a limited number of pre-taught positions. For more
sophisticated applications, such as welding and finishing (spray painting), motion must
be continuously controlled to follow a path in space, with controlled orientation and
velocity.

 Power source – some robots use electric motors, others use hydraulic actuators. The
former are faster, the latter are stronger and advantageous in applications such as spray
painting, where a spark could set off an explosion; however, low internal air-
pressurisation of the arm can prevent ingress of flammable vapours as well as other
contaminants.

 Drive – some robots connect electric motors to the joints via gears; others connect the
motor to the joint directly (direct drive). Using gears results in measurable 'backlash'
which is free movement in an axis. Smaller robot arms frequently employ high speed,
low torque DC motors, which generally require high gearing ratios; this has the
disadvantage of backlash. In such cases the harmonic drive is often used.

 Compliance - this is a measure of the amount in angle or distance that a robot axis will
move when a force is applied to it. Because of compliance when a robot goes to a
position carrying its maximum payload it will be at a position slightly lower than when it
is carrying no payload. Compliance can also be responsible for overshoot when carrying
high payloads in which case acceleration would need to be reduced.