Calibrating a multi-manipulator robotic system

A simple, but eeective, method of calibrating a multi-manipulator robotic system is introduced. The algorithm uses precisely machined calibration plates which are inexpensive to manufacture and requires no measuring instrumentation. The kinematic model parameters are solved by taking advantage of the fact that the homogeneous transformation around a closed chain equals the identity matrix and describing the problem as a constrained minimization problem which is solved by well-known methods. The method is tested on a dual-arm system which resulted in an order of magnitude reduction in the pose error. Coordinated dual-arm manipulation experiments are conducted using the calibrated kinematic model to validate the usefulness of the calibration process.