Development of a force measurement and communication system for the force measuring system in industrial robots

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a force measurement and communication system for the force measuring system in industrial robots. The force measurement and communication system is composed of a multi-axis force sensor and a controller for measuring the forces (x-direction force, y-direction force and z-direction force) and sending the measured forces to the robot's controller (PLC: Programmable Logic Controller). In this paper, the force measurement and communication system was designed and fabricated by using a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). An environment test and a grinding and deburring test using an industrial robot with the force measurement and communication system with three-axis force sensor were carried out to characterize the system. The tests showed that the system could safely measure the forces from the three-axis force sensor and send the measured forces to the industrial robot's controller while the grinding and deburring test was performed. Thus, it is thought that the fabricated force measurement and communication system could be used for controlling the force for an industrial robot's grinding and deburring. Copyright. ? ICROS 2016.