Workcell alignment covers a fundamental importance in robotic high quality machining. Such phase consists in the accurate alignment between the virtual and the real robot reference frames which define the position of every target point with respect to the robot world reference system.
The most important frames in robot machining are tool frames, defining the real position of tools, and workpiece frames, defining the real position of the workpiece.
Alignment is generally performed though a manual procedures which involves the manual displacement and measure of the robot end-effector poses for given target points.
Vision systems and sensors are used to enhance the accuracy and automatize the alignment procedure.
Moreover, on-line alignment is required to periodically adjust reference frame position, to consider the
progressive wear of machining tools and the possible variation in the workpiece geometry, due to successive
passes of the tools. On-line alignment represent the key factor in robotic high quality machining, so particular attention has been paid in developing a novel flexible and reconfigurable integrated procedure.