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FUNDAMENTALS
of
ROBOT
TECHNOLOGY
An Introduction to Industrial Robots,
Teleoperators and Robot Vehicles

D J Todd

&\
Kogan
Page
First published in 1986 by Kogan Page Ltd
120 Pentonville Road, London Nl 9JN
Copyright © 1986 DJ Todd
Softcover reprint of the hardcover lst edition 1986
All rights reserved
British library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Todd, DJ.
Fundamentals of robot technology: an introduction
to industrial robots, teleoperators and robot
vehicles.
1. Robots, Industrial
I. Title
629.8'92 TS191
ISBN-13: 978-94-011-6770-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-011-6768-0
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-011-6768-0
Anchor Brendon Ltd, Tiptree, Essex
Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 9
Definitions of 'robot' and 'robotics' 10
Other definitions in robotics 10
Connections between robotics and some related subjects 11
Artificial intelligence 11
Flexible manufacturing systems, factory automation, computer-aided
manufacturing 12
Bibliographic notes 12

Chapter 2: Geometric configurations for robots 15

Introduction 15
The distinction between arms and vehicles 15
Structural elements of manipulators 16
Degrees of freedom and number of joints 16
Types of joint 17
Construction of joints 18
Parallel linkages 18
Constrained linkages 20
Distributed manipulators 20
Robot transporters and workpiece positioners 20
Arm configuations 21
Cartesian 21
Polar 24
Cy lindrical 24
Horizontally jointed arms 24
Vertically jointed or anthropomorphic arms 24
Other arm designs 24
Tension structures 27
Wrists 27
Direct drive to each axis 29
Gear drives 30
Compliance in wrists 32
End effectors (grippers, tools and hands) 33
Two-jaw grippers 34
Special purpose mechanical grippers 35
Vaccum and magnetic grippers 37
Tools 38
Tool and gripper changing 38
Anthropomorphic and other adaptive hands 39
Two dimensional adaptive grippers 40
Anthropomorphic hands 40
Bibliographic notes 42

Chapter 3: Operation, programming and control of industrial robots 43

Types of industrial robot and their methods of operation 43
Pick and place manipulators 44
Point to point robots 45
Continuous path robots 45
Methods of teaching and programming 45
Programming pick and place robots 46
 Walk-through teaching or pendant teaching 46
Walk-through teaching with path control 47
Lead-through teaching or physical arm leading 48
Off-line programming 48
The implications of sensing for robot control 48
Types of controller and program memory 49
Analysis and control 49
Formulating the kinemati<,: equations 50
Solving the kinematic equations 51
The Jacobian formulation 52
The 'forward' and 'inverse' problems of dynamics 52
Specifying trajectories 52
Servo control of actuators 54
Programming languages for industrial robots 56
Bibliographic notes 57

Chapter 4_- Actuators for robots 59

Pneumatic actuation 60
Pneumatic valves 62
Hydraulic actuation 63
Hydraulic valves 64
Hydrostatic circuits 65
Hydraulic pumps and associated equipment 65
Electric actuation 69
Direct current servomotors 69
Alternating current servomotors (brushless direct current
servomotors) 71
Stepper motors 72
Other electromechanical actuators 73
Mechanical transmission methods 75
Inertia reduction 75
Speed reduction 76
Rotary Irectilinear motion conversion 80
Differentials and parallelogram linkages 80
Bibliographic notes 81

Chapter 5.' Sensing for robots 83

Joint angle 84
Potentiometers 85
Resolvers and synchros 85
Incremental and absolute encoders (usually optical) 86
J oint angular velocity 87
Rectilinear position 87
Force and torque 88
Strain gauges 88
Piezoelectric force transducers 89
Proximity sensing and range measurement 90
Touch sensing 93
Resistance-based touch sensors 94
Inductance and capacitance 94
Piezoelectric transducers 95
Thermal touch sensing 96
Optical methods of touch sensing 96
Slip 96
Vision 97
Vision hardware 98
Television cameras 98
Illuminator 100
Framestore 100
Preprocessor 101
General purpose computer 101
Types of computer vision 101
Two-dimensional vision with isolated objects and a binary image 102
Stasticial pattern recognition 102
Two-dimensional vision with isolated objects and a grey scale
image 103
 Touching or overlapping objects 104
Two-dimensional inspection 105
Two-dimensional line tracking 105
Three-dimensional vision: isolated objects 105
Single image (monocular vision) 106
Stereo vision 106
Structured illumination 106
Range imaging 107
Three-dimensional vision applied to a heap of parts 107
Three-dimensional scene analysis for mobile robots 107
Non-visual sensing in welding and other processes 107
Bibliographic notes 108

Chapter 6: Performance specifications of industrial robots 109

Geometric configuration; number of axes 110
Positioning accuracy and repeatability 110
Accuracy 110
Repeatability 111
Test methods for accuracy and repeatability 112
Angular accuracy and repeatability 112
Speed 113
Speed and acceleration accuracy 113
Spatial specifications: working volume, swept area, reach 113
Payload (maximum load capacity) 114
Control-related specifications 115
Memory capacity 115
Program structure 115
Advanced features 115
Vibration 116
Miscellaneous specifications 116
Bibliographic notes 116

Chapter 7: Applications of industrial robots 117

Machine loading 118
Pallet loading and unloading 120
Investment casting 121
Spot welding 122
Arc welding 123
Spraying (paint, enamel, epoxy resin and other coatings) 126
Fettling (grinding, chiselling); polishing 126
Cutting 127
Inspection 127
Training and education; hobby robots 127
Robots in assembly 130
Typ.:s of robot for assembly 131
Grippers 133
Compliance 136
Design for assembly 136
Part'numbers and types 136
Component design for mechanical handling 137
Design of the assembly process 138
New applications for industrial robots 139
Extension of existing methods to new applications 139
More sensing 140
Artificial intelligence 140
Handling difficult workpieces 140
Integration of industrial robots into the workplace 145
Tracking 145
Work cell configurations 146
Transport of components and assemblies 146
Feeders for assembly robots 147
Control and communication 148
Bibliographic notes 149
Chapter 8: Teleoperated arms 151
Introduction 151
Methods of contro1151
Mechanical master-slave telemanipulators 151
Powered telemanipulators 152
Servo control of unilateral telemanipulators 152
Bilateral servo manipulators 155
Special characteristics of teleoperators 158
Design criteria for teleoperators 159
Vehicles and transporters 160
Applications of teleoperators 161
Remote handling of radioactive materials 161
Remote handling of explosive and toxic materials 161
Telemanipulation of heavy objects 163
Underwater teleoperation 163
Teleoperation in space and planetary exploration 164
Telemanipulators for the disabled 164
Computer assisted teleoperation 166
Bibliographic notes 170

Chapter 9: Mobile robots 171

Introduction 171
Land surface robots 171
Arrangements of wheels and tracks 171
Unusual wheel and track arrangements 172
Navigation for land vehicles 174
Teleoperation 174
Dead reckoning 175
Inertial navigation 175
Tracking from a fixed base; beacons 175
Satellite navigation 175
Map matching 175
Wall following 176
Route planning 176
Control and communication 176
Sensors for mobile robots 177
Body orientation and angular rates 1 77
Body position, speed and acceleration 177
Terrain scanning 178
Types and applications of mobile robots 179
Education and research 179
Remote handling 183
Military mobile robots 183
Fire-fighting and rescue 187
Construction 188
Mining 188
Planetary exploration 188
Legged robots 188
Comparison of legs and wheels 189
Leg number and arrangement 189
Leg number 189
Leg disposition 190
Relative leg length 190
Leg construction 190
Control 191
Climbing robots 195
Robot submersibles 196
Uses of submersible robots 199
Robots in air and space 201
Space 202
Bibliographic notes 204

Chapter 10: Automated guided vehicles 205

Automated guided vehicle technology 207
Power, steering and guidance 207
 Route programming 208
Route planning 210
Loading and unloading 210
Safety; vehicle separation 211
Miscellaneous features 211
Automated guided vehicles with mechanical and optical guidance 211
Free ranging automated guided vehicles 212
Bibliographic notes 213

Chapter 11: Robotics and artificial intelligence 215

Vision 215
Voice communication 216
Planning 21 7
Discrete step planning 218
Route planning 218
Modelling 221
Adaptive control 222
Error monitoring and recovery 222
Autonomy and intelligence in robots 223
Expert systems in robotics 225
Bibliographic notes 226

Chapter 12: Economic and social aspects of robotics 227

Reasons for installing robots 227
Economic costs and benefits of installing industrial robots 228
Safety benefits of using robots 229
Prevention of mechanical damage 229
Avoidance of robot-generated fires and pollution 229
Protection of robots from adverse environments 229
Acceptability of industrial robots by the workforce 230
Employment 231
Other social issues of robotics 231
Social issues 231
Military robotics 232
Police and security uses of mobile robots 232
Teleoperators 232
Medical uses of robots 233
Bibliographic notes 233

References and Bibliography 237

Index 241
Chapter 1
Introduction

Robotics is a subject without sharp boundaries: at various points on its

periphery it merges into fields such as artificial intelligence, automation
and remote control, so it is hard to define it concisely. It is the branch
of engineering whose subject is, obviously, robots, but there is no univer-
sal agreement on what constitutes a robot, although many definitions have
been proposed, some of which are given later.
The boundaries of robotics are not only vague but shifting. Robots are
evolving quickly, and our ideas with them, so that we expect more and
more intelligence from machines. A machine which at one time is regarded
as a robot may in a few years come to be thought too primitive or inflexible
to merit the name. But if some machines are leaving the domain of robotics,
others are entering, as it becomes possible to automate more tasks so that,
for example, it becomes reasonable to envisage autonomous mobile robots
travelling and working in the country unattended for long periods. Also,
it may be argued that the boundaries of robotics are subject to changes
of fashion: at the time of writing robots and so-called 'high-tech' devices
generally are prominent in the news media and have value as commercial
symbols, and so almost any piece of domestic hardware may be heralded
as robotic by its advertisers.
Given this fluid situation it is unwise to insist on a rigid definition of
'robot' or 'robotics', but the following list of characteristics seems to be
essential for a true robot.

1) A robot must be produced by manufacture rather than by

biology. (This does not rule out the eventual use of artificial
biochemically produced structures such as muscles.)
2) It must be able to move physical objects or be mobile itself.
(This excludes simulations and control systems for static plant.)
3) It must be a power or force source or amplifier. (This excludes
those teleoperated arms which merely replicate an operator's
hand movements by a mechanical linkage. Nevertheless,
teleoperators in general are a legitimate subject for robotics: a
comprehensive treatment must sometimes stray beyond the
bounds of a purist's definition.)
4) It must be capable of ~ome sustained action without

9
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

intervention by an external agent.

5) It must be able to modify its behaviour in response to sensed
properties of its environment, and therefore must be equipped
with sensors.

A less formal view of a robot is that it is a machine possessing func-

tional arms or legs, or else is a driverless vehicle. Other definitions em-
phasize intelligence, by which is meant the human-like ability to perform
a variety of incom pletely specified tasks involving perception and decision
making.

Definitions of 'robot' and 'robotics'

The term 'robotics' was coined by Isaac Asimov in about 1940. Because
of its origin in science fiction it is only slowly becoming a respectable word,
and it is not found even in some good recent dictionaries. (,Roboticist'
will probably take even longer.) Respectable or not, these words describe
a coherent discipline and its practitioners, and will not go away. The origin
of the word 'robot' around 1917 with Karel Capek is described in many
books on robots; a brief but adequate account is given elsewhere (see
bibliographic notes).

Other definitions in robotics

The term manipulator is used here to mean any device with an arm bearing
a hand or gripper; thus it includes both industrial robots and
telemanipulators. An industrial robot is a manipulator which automatically
repeats a cycle of operations under program control. The identification
of 'industrial robot' with programmed manipulator is unfortunate since
other machines such as automatically guided vehicles (AGVs) are really
also industrial robots. This identification may become weaker in time, but
for now the term industrial robot must be assumed to refer to a programmed
manipulator if no contrary indication is given. The official definitions of
robot issued by the national robotics associations such as the British Robot
Association (BRA) and the Japanese Industrial Robot Association 0IRA)
are mostly of industrial robots in this sense. An example is that of the Robot
Institute of America (RIA):
A robot is a reprogrammable and multifunctional manipulator, devised for the transport
of materials, parts, tools or specialized systems, with varied and programmed movements,
with the aim of carrying out varied tasks.

These organizations usually classify robots into four or more classes and
sometimes into generations. There is little agreement about these classes,
and in particular on whether pick and place machines and telemanipulators

10
 INTRODUCTION

count as robots.
A telemanipulator is a manipulator whose actions are remotely controlled
by a human operator, sometimes by mechanically replicating his hand
movements and sometimes by obeying pushbuttons or joystick controls.
Such a manipulator is often called a teleoperator, but in the view ofVertut
and Coiffet (see bibliographic notes) a teleoperator, although it can be just
a telemanipulator, more generally refers to a system of which a
telemanipulator is merely a part, being moved about by some kind of
transporter or vehicle.
An alternative term for teleoperator is telechir, coined, along with the
associated subject name telechirics, by M.W. Thring as preferable because
both halves are the same language: Greek for 'distant' and 'hand'. (He
also invented the term 'sceptrology', meaning the technology of mechanical
aids for the disabled.)
For completeness some terms are defined which, while not relevant to
robotics as a practical subject at present, tend to be associated with robots,
particularly in fiction and speculation about the future.
An android is an, as yet imaginary, robot of human appearance and
physical abilities. There is no agreement on whether an android must be
built from engineering materials or grown in some biochemical way.
A cyborg is a being part machine and part biological. One would not
wish to argue that a person with artificial hip joints or heart valves is a
cyborg, which raises the question of how much has to be mechanically
replaced before a person counts as one. 'Cyborg' is a hybrid of 'cybernetics'
and 'organism'. Cybernetics is the science of control systems in engineer-
ing and biology; the word was invented by Norbert Wiener.

Connections between robotics and some related subjects

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dealt with in Chapter 11; for now it is suffi-
cient to make one or two general remarks. First, the boundaries of AI,
like those of robotics, are rather fluid, particularly where AI merges into
psychology and the other sciences of mind and brain in nature. Indeed,
robotics has been regarded by some as a branch of AI, but equally AI could
be said to be a subset of robotics, if robotics is interpreted liberally.
From a scientific or philosophical point of view the most interesting area
of the AI -robotics interaction lies in the possibilities for making robots which
are more like those of science fiction, i.e. mobile intelligent autonomous
agents. This is touched on in Chapter 11. In terms of the practical robotics
oftoday and the immediate future, however, the relevance of AI is mainly
that it provides, or promises to provide, a number of useful techniques
for enhancing performance. The general theme of these is making robots

11
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

more intelligent, in a down to earth sense, by incorporating adaptability,

sensing, problem solving and so on. There is also an opposite connection:
robots for AI instead of AI for robotics; robots can be useful tools for
developing AI techniques.

FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS, FACTORY AUTOMATION,

COMPUTER-AIDED MANUFACTURING
There are often good reasons for installing an isolated industrial robot,
but robots can also be regarded as elements in a larger system encompass-
ing an entire manufacturing process. There is a whole range of options,
from a manufactur£ng cell, in which a group of machine tools and robots makes
a component or assembly, to attempts to automate almost an entire fac-
tory. As the system gets larger, the emphasis shifts from the individual
machining or assembly process to issues of communication between the
machines and the coordination of the whole enterprise. The aim is to gain
increased control over the manufacturing done in a factory, so that the
work is distributed among the machines efficiently, it is possible to make
many varieties at once while keeping track of individual assemblies, and
so on. It may even be possible to link the factory to a computer-aided design
(CAD) process in such a way that the machine tool settings are derived
automatically from the design.
This subject is beyond the scope of this book, but it may be useful to
explain a few terms as they are commonly used in connection with robots.
Aflex£ble manufacturing system (FMS) is a coordinated set of machine tools
and their loading devices (often robots), which can produce a range of items.
It implies that there is a communications network associated with the
machines so that they can be programmed, while the system is running,
with the settings for each item to be made.
Factory automation means the linking together of most of the operations
of a factory so that the whole process is under automatic control; sometimes
the idea of an unmanned factory is spoken of, but in practice there are
almost always some operations still done by workers (in addition to the
maintenance staff).
The terms computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-integrated manufac-
turing (CIM) and computer-a£ded engineering (CAE) generally refer to flexible
manufacturing and factory automation together with issues such as stock
control and the linking of CAD with manufacturing, but without any uni-
versally agreed definitions.

Bibliographic notes
Since some references are cited £n several chapters, they are g£ven in a list at the end
of the book rather than being cited in full in the bibliographic notes for each chapter.

12
 INTRODUCTION

A brief account of the origin of the word 'robot' and of Capek's work
is given in Reichardt (1978). This also gives several references to the history
of toy robots and automata.
An interesting if unorthodox approach to the philosophy of robots is con-
tained in Thring (1983).

13
Chapter 2
Geometric Configurations for Robots

Introduction
Robots take a bewildering variety of forms: arms of all shapes, vehicles
with all possible arrangements of wheels or legs, and devices which although
clearly robotic are neither vehicles nor arms. This chapter makes sense
of this variety by explaining how the functions required of a robot can be
met by combinations of mechanical elements such as links and joints. It
concentrates on manipulation robots.
In treating the geometric or spatial aspects of robot design, we start from
the proposition that a robot is a machine for moving things around. The
thing it moves may be a workpiece, a tool, a passenger or a cargo: in general,
a payload. The robot may have to move two or more payloads in a co-
ordinated fashion. The payload is usually an object with definite boun-
daries, but this is not universally true: it may be part of something ex-
tended, such as a membrane or rope. It is often rigid, but some payloads
are flexible, or partially liquid, or even active things such as live animals.
The movement of the payload(s) must be relative to something: often to
the ground, but another case is when one item must be moved relative
to a second, their absolute position being of no consequence. An example
is the movement of a tool relative to a workpiece. It is possible to keep
the workpiece fixed and to move the tool, to keep the tool fixed and to
move the workpiece, or to give some dimensions of movement to the
workpiece and the rest to the tool.

The distinction between arms and vehicles

If we wish to move an object about in space, relative to something fixed
such as the ground, six dimensions are needed to specify its situation: three
for its position and three for its orientation or attitude. These must be con-
trolled in some way, by connecting the object to the ground with a link
allowing the transmission of the forces and torques needed to support and
move the object. If the link is continuous and fixed to the ground we have
a manipulator; if it is made by a self-contained device which propels itself
about on a surface or through a medium we have a vehicle. It is important
to note that there is no sharp boundary between vehicles and manipulators:

15
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

as a vehicle becomes more constrained by rails and by its propulsion method

it becomes indistinguishable from part of a manipulator. Whether a par-
ticular device is a vehicle or not is sometimes just a question of point of
view. For example, there are some computer plotters whose pen is moved
by a small steerable wheeled carriage connected to the computer only by
a ribbon cable: is this a vehicle? Another marginal case is that of the arm
mounted on a carriage running on a short track: is the carriage a vehicle,
or merely another joint of the manipulator?
Nevertheless, for most purposes the distinction is clear enough, and in
the case of free-ranging vehicles carrying a manipulator it is usually pos-
sible to regard the two functions as separate: the vehicle is thought of as
a mobile platform for the, separately controlled, arm. However, in the
future, control methods will be needed which allow good coordinated move-
ment of arm and vehicle.

Structural elements of manipulators *

As remarked previously, an industrial robot or teleoperator must control
the position and orientation of an object using a mechanical link to the
fixed world. This link could in principle take an unusual form, such as
a collection of inflatable bags or a set of flexible elements such as bimetallic
strips. It need not even involve physical contact: in some circumstances
the object could be suspended by magnetic or other forces.
However, nearly all robots actually use rigid links connected by rotating
or sliding joints, with the occasional use of tension elements such as wires,
tapes and cables. This is true even of the apparently flexible elephant-trunk-
like arms which have sometimes been made: in this case the links are short
and the joints many.

Degrees of freedom and number of joints

A machine made of rigid links connected by joints is characterized by its
number of degrees of freedom. A joint can have more than one degree
offreedom (e.g. a ball joint allows rotation about three independent axes)
or it may not contribute any degrees of freedom at all. This happens if
two or more joints are coupled so that they can only move together.
We are usually interested in the position and attitude of the payload
at the end of the linkage chain. From this point of view some degrees of
freedom may be redundant, i.e. there is more than one way of accomplishing
a given movement of the payload. This happens if two joints can rotate
in the same plane (i.e. their axes are parallel), or iftwo translational joints
are not at right angles. In the simplest case the machine has as many

• 'Manipulator' as used here includes both programmmable industrial robots and teleoperators.

16
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

degrees of freedom as joints, whose number is in turn equal to that of the

controllable degrees of freedom of the payload. This number is at most
six, three for position and three for orientation. Practical robots often have
fewer, especially in orientation since many tasks can be designed so that
orientation is either unimportant or held constant. Occasionally they have
more than six.

Types of joint
The basic kinds of motion possible at a Jomt (or articulation as it is
sometimes known) are rotation and translation or sliding. A single-axis
rotary joint such as a hinge is called a revolute joint; a joint with a single
direction of sliding, and with no rotation, is called pn·smatic. Other possi-
ble joints are the cylindrical joint, allowing both sliding and rotation, the
helical or screw joint, the spherical or ball joint, and the flat planar joint
in which one half is constrained to slide in a plane. For analystical pur-
poses these can usually be regarded as combinations of revolute and
prismatic joints.
A notation for joints uses the symbols R for revolute and P for prismatic.
If two or more joints coincide their symbols are joined by a brace: thus
a ball joint is denoted by RRR, and a cylindrical joint by RP. This nota-
tion allows a compact description of an arm as a chain of joint symbols
starting from the base of the machine. The notation is not suitable for
parallel structures in which two points are connected by more than one
chain of links.
Of the joints found in robots, only revolute and prismatic joints are
powered. Ball joints do occur, for the attachment of push rods and in parallel
linkages, but these are not powered.
Since rotary and rectilinear (straight-line) motion can be interconverted
by a rack and pinion, a cable and pulley, or a screw, a revolute joint can
be powered by a rectilinear actuator, or a prismatic joint by a rotary one.
Nevertheless, it is natural to match rotary actuators with revolute joints
and rectilinear with prismatic. So prismatic joints are often powered by
hydraulic or penumatic cylinders, and revolute joints by electric or hydraulic
motors. All the other possibilities such as pneumatic rotary acutators can
also be found.
Revolute joints are generally to be preferred to prismatic. A prismatic
joint although conceptually as simple as a revolute one is in practice a more
complex mechanism, or more difficult to manufacture. (This partly reflects
the ready availability of rotary bearings, which is an aspect of the prevalence
of rotary machinery in general.) Further, a prismatic joint takes up a lot
of space, as shown by Figure 2.1 which compares a prismatic joint with
an angular one giving the same displacement.
Prismatic joints can be compounded as in a telescope, but at the cost
of added complexity. A final argument for the revolute joint is that angular

17
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

position sensors are more readily available than rectilinear ones . (This may
be only a minor point if the prismatic joint is driven by a rotary actuator,
provided that the gearing introduces no errors .)
However, a prismatic joint can be made very rigid; and it generates
rectilinear motion without coordinated servo joint control.
sliding element

guide roller

Figure 2.1 Comparison oj prismatic and revolute joints, showing that jar a given displacement a
prismatic joint takes up more space.
Construction of joints
Revolute joints simply use conventional bearings . The possibilities for a
prismatic joint are more various. Some examples are shown in Figure 2.2 .
Various designs of rectilinear ball bearing, some with recirculating balls,
also exist. The machine slide (Figure 2.2 (c)) is not very suitable for robots
because its high friction discourages rapid movement.

Figure 2.2 Construction oj prismatic joints: (a) roller guides, (b) pair oj hydraulic cylinders, (c)
machine slides.
Parallel linkages
Most manipulators take the form of an arm consisting of a chain of links
connected end to end, or serially. However, it is also possible to achieve
an equivalent motion by connecting the links side by side, in parallel. A
two-dimensional illustration is given in Figure 2.3.

18
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

(a) serial (b) parallel

Figure 2.3 Comparison of serial and parallel linkages.

In Figure 2.3(b), if both rams extend equally, thejointJ will move ver-
tically. If the rams move by unequal amounts J can be made to move in
any direction, including horizontally. The advantage of a parallel linkage
is increased rigidity due to the triangulated structure. The most notable
configuration of this kind allows the control of all six degrees of freedom
of the payload using six prismatic actuators. It was invented for use in flight
simulators and has been used in at least one experimental industrial robot,
the GEe Gadfly assembly robot (Figure 2.4).

Figure 2.4 A robot with a parallel linkage, the GEC Gadfly (courtesy GEC Research Ltd).

This structure has the advantages of rigidity, oflow inertia, and of un i-

formity, since all the joints, with their motors and sensors, are identical.
A disadvantage is its limited range of movement, particularly in rotation .
The Gadfly was designed for printed circuit board component insertion,
for which this limitation is not serious. Its six prismatic joints use leadscrews
driven by servomotors. The gripper can move at speeds of the order of

19
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

a metre a second, and the positioning repeatability is around O.imm.

Combinations of serial and parallel linkages are possible. For example,
it may be advantageous to fit a serial wrist, giving large angular ranges,
to a parallel arm of high rigidity.

Constrained linkages
In another variation on the theme oflinkages, two or more joints are con-
strained to move similarly. This connection is usually an extra link or a
belt and its most usual purpose is to keep two parts of the machine parallel
so that, for example, the axis of the gripper is always horizontal. The prin-
ciple is shown in Figure 2.5.

Figure 2.5 Constrained linkages: a pair of parallelogram linkages keeps the wrist horizontal at
all times.

Distributed manipulators
Before concentrating on arm-like manipulators, we must amplify the earlier
remark that some motions can be given to the workpiece and others to
the tool. In the simplest form of this division the workpiece is mounted
on a set of slides like those of a milling machine, producing translational
movement in the two horizontal dimensions and possibly the third, ver-
tical dimension, while the tool is suspended above on a mounting which
swivels about whatever axes of rotation are required. It may also slide ver-
tically. Such a design is capable of great rigidity and therefore positional
accuracy. It would be useful for precision grinding of a complex shape where
there are large forces between the workpiece and the tool, tending to deflect
the tool's path.

Robot transporters and workpiece positioners

These may be regarded as conferring extra degrees of freedom on a robot.
Figure 7.28(f) shows how a transporter can increase the working volume
of a robot so that it can serve several machines. A transporter can be a
carriage on a fixed track as in this example, or can be a vehicle. Transporters

20
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

are particularly important for teleoperators, as explained in Chapter 8 (in

particular see Figure 8.8).
A workpiece positioner (known as a manipulator by some manufacturers,
such as ESAB) allows the orientation, and sometimes the position of the
workpiece, to be controlled while the robot applies a tool such as a welding
gun to it. Some positioners resemble lathes, with a headstock and tailstock
between which a very large workpiece can be clamped; others have a
workpiece table which can rotate about one or more axes.
When equipped with a positioner a robot in effect becomes a distributed
manipulator with many degrees of freedom. Positioners have several uses:

1) Generating an accurate circular motion by rotating the

workpiece; this is used in arc welding of circular seams.
2) Turning a workpiece over so that the robot can get at both
sides.
3) Helping with loading and unloading; the positioner can be
double ended so that it can present one workpiece to the robot
while a new workpiece is being loaded into the other end.
4) Performing a similar function to a transporter, by effectively in-
creasing the working volume of the robot.

Arm configurations
In most manipulators there is a clear distinction between the function of
the arm itself, which for the purpose of this section does not include the
wrist or the gripper, and that of the wrist. The function of the arm is to
position the payload, and that of the wrist is to orientate it. So an idealiz-
ed manipulator has long links in the arm, to allow large displacements,
and links of zero length in the wrist. (In other words, the axes of the three
revolute joints of the wrist intersect in a point.) This section describes some
common arm configurations. They all have three joints such that the tip
of the arm can move in three dimensions (Figure 2.6).

CARTESIAN
The Cartesian or x, y, z, arrangement is the only one to use just prismatic
joints, corresponding to the dimensions of the Cartesian coordinate system.
This is the mathematically simplest system as far as translational movements
are concerned. It is easy to calculate what joir1t movements are needed
to move the payload from one place to another, and arm movement does
not affect payload orientation. This is advantageous when dealing with
a world dominated by right angle geometry; an example is inserting com-
ponents into printed circuit boards. Robots for this purpose often hang
down from a gantry rather than standing like a pillar. Since the slideways
for the two motions are supported at both ends, a gantry machine is easier

21
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

to make rigid, and is the most rigid of the common structures for industrial
robots. Two examples of Cartesian robots are shown in Figure 2.7.

(a)

(b) (c)

(d) (e)

Figure 2.6 Five common arm geometries: (a) Cartesian, (b) polar, (c) cylindrical, (d) SCARA,
(e) Jointed or anthropomorphic.

22
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

(a)

(b)
Figure 2.7 Two Cartesian robots with a gantry strucure: (a) KUKA IR 400, (b) Fairey gantry
robot.

23
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

POLAR
The spherical polar or r, (J, cp configuration (Figure 2.6 (b)) was adopted
in the Unimate, the first industrial robot. This design is used mostly for
machine loading, being well suited to a long straight reach into a press
or moulding machine.

CYLINDRICAL
This cylindrical or r, z, (J configuration is found mostly in pick and place
arms and robots for parts feeding. As in the Cartesian geometry the wrist
is automatically kept in a constant attitude (apart from rotation about the
vertical axis), and so it is suitable for tasks such as the assembly of an elec-
tric motor where the assembly is dominated by a vertical axis along which
components such as bearings and shafts are to be inserted. Its main ad-
vantage over the Cartesian arrangement is that the robot can be surrounded
by the machines it serves and can swing right round to cover a large work-
ing area. It is shown in Figure 2. 6( c).

HORIZONT ALL Y JOINTED ARMS

The horizontally jointed arm is shown in Figure 2.6(d). This configura-
tion is often referred to as a 'SCARA' arm, for selective compliance
assembly robot. This means that the vertical axis at the gripper is kept
rigidly vertical, and the vertical prismatic joint can apply a force for inser-
tion during assembly while the horizontal motion is allowed to be somewhat
compliant to take up small positioning errors. The SCARA arm is often
used for assembly, like cylindrical and Cartesian arms, and for the same
reasons. It is more compact than a cylindrical robot.

VER TICALL Y JOINTED OR ANTHROPOMORPHIC ARMS

The vertically jointed or anthropomorphic arm (Figure 2.6(e)), sometimes
said to use revolute coordinates, is very popular. It is compact (and so has
a large working volume for its size) and avoids prismatic joints. It can be
set up in several normal operating positions, as shown in Figure 2.8. Some
examples are shown in Chapter 7.

OTHER ARM DESIGNS

Other joint combinations are sometimes found. An example, which may
be described as PRRPRR in the notation introduced earlier, is shown in
Figure 2.9. Suspended over the workpiece, it can exert a high force
downwards and is used for pressing and drilling of large workpieces.
Extra joints can be inserted into any of the previously described arms,
in order to reach round corners or to provide motion in a particularly useful

24
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TlONS FOR ROBOTS

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 2.8 Mounting positions for a vertically Jointed arm.

direction without relying on the coordinated movement of several joints.

The whole arm can be mounted on an extra source of motion. An exam-
ple is a track parallel to an assembly line conveyor, so that a welding robot
can be moved along at the same speed as the car bodies it is working on.
A more radical change is the attempt to produce more flexible arms by
stacking many identical joints in series. An example is shown in Figure 2.10.

Figure 2.9 An unusual arm geometry: the KUKA IR 2601500, for Jobs needing a large
pressing force (courtesy KUKA Welding Systems & Robots Ltd).

25
 FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

_ _ _ top disc

disc

sensor line --------1

potentiometer-----++

power """"-----+-f- I+---'------wire

sensor
L
- -. -
---- - - l l - actual value
C actual valu~ for position
actual value Lfor power i
for position . -- - - - - - \
,t
0

·--·~lt .

regulator __ computed
hydraulic - = - - - - t -
cylinders values

control signal
to valves
servo
valves

Figure 2.10 The mechanism of the Spine robot: four cables pulled by hydraulic rams pass
along the edges of a stack of discs (each disc is mounted in a square frame with a cable hole
at each corner). Differential pull in a pair of cables causes the stack to bend as shown. It can
bend in two planes at once, so each stack has two degrees of freedom. The complete robot
contains two such stacks and a three axis wrist.

26
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

Tension structures
Before moving on to wrist and end effectors, a brief note will be included
on an alternative approach to manipulator construction. An object can be
positioned (and orientated) by cables, usually pulled by winches. Figure
2.11(a) shows how an object confined to a plane can be positioned by two
active cables together with a means of keeping them in tension; this could
be the object's weight or a third cable. The confinement to the plane might
be by gravity or by a linkage of rigid members. Such a robot does exist.
Still in two dimensions, if extra cables are added the orientation of the ob-
ject can also be controlled.

(a) (b)
Figure 2.11 Tension structures: (aJ two dimensional, (bJ three dimensional; in each case the
arrow indicates that weight or another source of tension is needed to keep the suspension cables
taut.

In three dimensions an object can be positioned by three cables kept

in tension, as in Figure 2.11(b); this system is used to suspend a television
camera over a stadium, forming what is in effect a giant teleoperated robot.
With six cables the geometry is like that of the Gadfly described earlier,
and attitude about three axes can be controlled as well. (This again assumes
that gravity or an extra cable keeps the controlling cables in tension.)
Finally, note that tension elements in the form of cables, chains or tapes
are often used in transmitting mechanical power to the joints of rigid-link
manipulators; they correspond to the tendons of animal limbs.

Wrists
The mathematically ideal wrist allows rotation of the held object about three
axes at right angles, such as those shown in Figure 2.12, although wrists
with fewer axes are also common. There are several systems of names for
the three axes; the system adopted here is that of pitch, roll and yaw.

27
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

Figure 2. 12 The basic three·axis wrist.

Before going further, a point worth noting about mechanisms with three
rotational axes (and this applies to gyroscopes and arms as well as to wrists)
is that things tend to go awry at large angles: it is possible for two of the
axes to become aligned, or nearly so, a condition known as degeneracy.
For example, in Figure 2.12 if the hand were to yaw through 90° from
the straight ahead position the roll joint would coincide with the pitch joint .
This would make it impossible to rotate the payload about the long axis
of the arm. The design of wrist shown here can actually yaw through only
a limited angle, perhaps :I: 45°, so degeneracy is not a severe problem, but
some wrists can yaw through 90° or more.
It would be mathematically tidy , and often useful in practice, if the axes
of rotation passed through some specified point in the payload, such as
the tip of a tool or the centre of a workpiece. This is not usually possible;
the joints are almost always some distance behind this point. A more realistic
objective is to make the three joint axes intersect at a point somewhere
in the wrist, and this is commonly done.
It is difficult to design a satisfactory three-axis wrist. The main problem
is this: if the joint actuators are attached directly to the joints, the wrist
will be heavy and bulky, but if they are not then some mechanical trans-
mission must be devised to couple the wrist joints to actuators mounted
on the arm.
A wrist must meet some or all of the following requirements:

1) The mass at the end of the arm should be minimized.

Otherwise the arm will have to be stronger than it need be, and
because of excessive inertia the robot will be slow.
2) The volume of the wrist mechanism should be minimized as it
is liable to intrude into the work space and to collide with
obstacles.
3) The wrist must allow transmission of power to the gripper. This
can be done by a mechanical linkage , which tends to be
complicated, or the wrist may be bypassed by a flexible hose or

28
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

cable. Cables or optical fibre bundles from sensors in the

gripper may also have to be accommodated .
4) Each joint must have a useful angular range . There are two
reasons why this can be more difficult than it appears at first
sight. First , if a gimbal-like arrangement is used the movement
of the innermost element will be restricted by the gimbal ring;
secondly, any tendons, cables or hoses to the end effector have
limited flexibility.
5) It is sometimes desirable to allow a compliant or force-sensing
device to be incorporated.

The main approaches to wrist design will now be described .

DIRECT DRIVE TO EACH AXIS

The actuators are usually hydraulic vane rotary actuators, geared hydraulic
motors or electric servomotors. Figure 2.13 shows a robot with a hydraulic
motor on each of the three wrist axes .

Figure 2.13 A three-axis wrist with direct drive to each axis by a hydraulic actuator. The robot,
a Cincinnati Milacron T3 -586, is cutting off unwanted parts of a casting by holding it against
an abrasive wheel (courtesy of Cincinnati Milacron).

29
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

GEAR DRIVES
Mechanical engineers have shown great ingenuity in devising gear trains
for driving three-axis wrists. The most usual elements are bevel gears and
concentric shafts. A common approach is to design a two-axis joint and
to mount this on a relatively simple third joint. Figure 2.14 shows two
variants of a two-axis joint, one allowing roll and pitch and the second
allowing pitch and yaw. In Figure 2. 14(a), if bevel gear R is driven one
way while P is driven the other way at the same speed, there will be no
pitch motion but shaft S (the roll axis) will rotate. If both Rand Pare
driven at the same rate in the same direction the cage K, and therefore
the whole hand, will rotate about the pitch shaft, with no roll. Such wrists
are found on some five-axis educational robots.
y
R yaw drive

K
S roll

block attached
pitch to pitch shaft
P pitch shaft
(a) (b) p

Figure 2.14 Two-axis wrist joints: (a) pitch and roll, (b) pitch andyaw; the shafts P, Rand
Yare often driven by bevel gears and shafts (as shown in Figure 2.16), or by cables and pulleys.

The device of Figure 2 . 14(b) works similarly, in pitch and yaw instead
of pitch and roll.
Some of these two-axis joints (such as that shown in Figure 2 .14(b)) re-
quire that to rotate them in one axis alone both input shafts must be driven
at the same rate. This can be done by controlling the speed of the two motors
separately, or by using a differential gear as shown in Figure 2 .15. The
differential adds the angular velocity of the pitch and yaw motors in such
a way that driving the wrist in pitch alone does not affect the yaw angle:
the pitch angular velocity is passed to both shafts on the pitch axis, one
directly and the other via the differential.
Figure 2.16 shows how a two-axis (pitch and yaw) joint can be mounted
on a third joint whose axis lies along the forearm to make a three-axis joint.

30
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

yaw A differential A+B

motor gear ~

yaw shaft Y
B

pitch -'"
motor
pitch shaft P

Figure 2.15 Use of a differential gear to decouple yaw and pitch for the wrist shown in Figure
2. 14(b). If the yaw motor alone is powered, only the yaw shaft rotates. If the pitch motor alone is
powered, not only does it drive the pitch shaft but it also drives the yaw shrift at the same rate.
This is so there is no relative movement between the yaw shaft and the yaw bearing block, so the
wrist is not driven in yaw.

In Figure 2 .16( a) the whole forearm rotates, which has the advantage that
the pitch and yaw drives need no decoupling from the roll axis. In Figure
2.16(b) such coupling does occur and must be compensated for either by
servo control or by differentials.
yaw motor

yaw motor """"-'--I--+-_ pitch motor

splined shaft
pitch
motor

flexible universal
joints
roll joint
(ball bearing race)

gripper mounting plate ~,«-"'''f---gripper mounting plate

~yaw "-.:'.yaw

(a) (b)

Figure 2.16 Two simple designs for a three-axis wrist.

31
FUN DAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

Even more complex gear trains are possible. For example, the three-
axis wrists can be modified to allow the transmission of power to a gripper
by fitting an extra set of bevel gears on shafts running through the pitch
and yaw shafts ; the principle, for a two-axis pitch/roll wrist, is shown in
Figure 2.17 .

pitch ====d:~~:JL:1~
gripper ========;===~
gripper drive shaft
roll =======nfL:J.Jm-~

Figure 2.17 Transmission of gripper drive through a two-axis wrist using bevel gears and
concentric shafts.

A very neat wrist mechanism invented by Cincinnati Milacron can now

be found on many robots (Figure 2.18); it can be recognized by its spherical
or biconical housing. Motion supplied by three concentric input shafts from
motors in the arm is converted into three-axis motion which, for some orien-
tations at least, is equivalent to roll, pitch and yaw, in a way impossible
to describe except by a three dimensional model.

COMPLIANCE IN WRISTS
During assembly, if a shaft or bolt is to be inserted into a closely fitting
hole, or a collar slid onto a shaft , it may jam if there is the slightest align-
ment error. The problem is usually explained in terms of the peg and hole
shown in Fi gure 2. 19. It is assumed that the chamfered edge of the hoI e
will guide the tip of the peg in if there is a slight positional error. The prob-
lem is then that the peg may well jam at an angle in the hole, and the only
way 1:0 free it is to rotate the peg towards the axis of the hole, or to move
the top sideways towards this axis.
A rotation of this kind can be accomplished by a linkage called a remote
centre compliance (RCC) linkage, shown in Figure 2.20 . It has the pro~
perty that any sideways movement by the wrist while the peg is in contact
with the hole is compensated for by the linkage in such a way that the peg
rotates about a point near its tip (a centre remote from the linkage, hence
its name) in the right direction .
Other passive linkages have been devised. The alternative is to instru-
ment the wrist with force sensors, usually strain gauges, and to use servo

32
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

control to drive it in the right direction . An active system is more complex

and slower than a passive one but can in principle cope with a wider range
of jamming and misalignment problems.

axis 3 drive shaft

axis 2 drive shaft

axis 1 drive shaft

axis 1 bearing

axis 2
bevel gear

axis 2
bearing

Figure 2.18 The Cincinnati-Milacron three-axis wrist mechanism: the three axes are not at right
angles. A gripper drive could be passed through the assembly by the addition of shafts running
through the centre of those shown, and connected by bevel gears.

End effectors (grippers, tools and hands)

The purpose of an arm, whether an industr'ial robot, a telemanipulator
or a prosthesis, is to carry a tool or workpiece. The most general way of
accomplishing this is to provide a hand which , like the human hand, is
almost infinitely adaptable. Such hands are still in the research stage, as
described later. Industrial robots generally have a two-jaw gripper, a special
purpose gripper, a permanently mounted tool or a fitting for interchangeable
tools .

33
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

TWO-JAW GRIPPERS
The crudest kind of two-jaw gripper is shown in Figure 2.21(a). It is rarely
used except in very cheap robots owing to its tendency to displace the load

/peg

/hOle
Figure 2.19 An example of alignment error - a peg being inserted into a hole.
sideways as the jaws close. The version of Figure 2.21(b) is preferred. The
jaws are coupled by gears or a linkage. The variant of Figure 2.21(c) has
been fitted with jaw faces matching a particular part. Those of Figures
2.21(d), (e) and (f) are suitable for gripping objects with parallel faces.

centre of rotation ~

+
Figure 2.20 A remote centre compliance (RGG) linkage, shown in two dimensions. In practice
the linkage is three dimensional, allowing compliant motion in two planes, and occupies a
cylindrical housing.
Such grippers can use any kind of power source, but peneumatic actua-
tion is particularly suitable because of its inherent springiness: if the
workpiece starts to slip, some resilience in the jaws may enable the grip-
per to keep its hold. However, grippers are also available with jaws powered
by servomotors which allow servo control of jaw separation or gripping
force. The gripping force may be measured by strain gauges or the motor
current.
Gripper jaws can be lined with resilient and high friction materials, but
it is hard to find such materials with a long life.

34
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

SPECIAL PURPOSE MECHANICAL GRIPPERS

Grippers have been designed to fit all sorts of objects. A gripper for car
wheels is shown in Figure 2.22 and another which can handle a complete
car door and which includes the tools for bolting the door onto the body
is illustrated in Figure 2.23. Some more examples are shown in Figure
2.24. Most grippers grip by friction or mechanical fitting. Other methods
are possible, such as adhesive tape or spikes (for soft materials).

(a) (b)

~ ...
.':" -w .:
~. ~

(c) (d)
rack and pinion drive
intermeshing to each jaw
teeth , I:
~"
-t? - - - - r " - - -----' t
~...-----------, 1
(e) (1)

Figure 2.21 Varieties of a two-jaw gripper: (a) single moving jaw; (b) both jaws move
symmetrically, coupled by gears; (c) jaws shaped to match a cylindrical workpiece; (d) self
adjusting parallel jaws; (e) standard design of parallel jaw gripper; and (f) sliding jaws driven by
rack and pinion for straight-line motion.

35
FUNDAMEN TALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

Figure 2.22 A special gripper for holding a car wheel (courtesy of KUKA Welding Systems &
Robots Ltd).

Figure 2.23 A special gripper for mounting a car door. It incorporates two nut runners for
attaching the door to the body shell (courtesy of KUKA Welding Systems & Robots Ltd).

36
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TlONS FOR ROBOTS

infl"abl'~-b-'-" '-~:p
for internally
gripping cylinders
:

gripping an
open tube by
its ends

~
+ self-centring
.... .. fingers
... inflatable collar
for gripping drums
Figure 2.24 Special purpose grippers

VACUUM AND MAGNETIC GRIPPERS

Suction cups are used in egg packing machinery and glass handling as well
as in robotics. A common way of producing the (partial) vacuum is to supply
compressed air to a venturi ; this is simple and has a low initial cost but
is noisy and consumes power . The alternative is a vacuum pump; this is
quieter and produces a better vacuum. Suction, with a water venturi, also
works under water .
It is easy enough to grip a smooth flat object by suction, but harder
if the surface is rough and the shape complex. Adapting grippers have been
designed with many small suction cups in parallel, mounted by ball joints
to individual cylinders (Figure 2.25) or springs. An extension of this idea
is to apply a vacuum to a porous gripper surface, which works like many
tiny suction cups in parallel; such a gripper can pick up objects with flat
but rough surfaces, such as bricks .

Figure 2.25 Adapting vacuum gripper with suckers on individual pneumatic or hydraulic
cylinders. It is lowered with the pistons free to move until it matches the workpiece, then the
pistons are locked in place by closing valves.

37
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

Magnetic grippers can use permanent magnets or electromagnets. An

electromagnet can, of course, easily be turned off, but when this is done
it is desirable to apply a pulse of reversed current. This cancels any
magnetization induced in the workpiece and ensures a quick release. If
a permanent magnet is used there must be a mechanical device for detaching
the workpiece, or else the robot can pull free once the workpiece is secured
at its destination. Permanent magnets can be designed to produce shallow
magnetic penetration so that only the top layer of a stack of steel sheets
is picked up.
Both magnetic and vacuum grippers are of limited load capacity. Another
property they share is that if an object is held by a flat surface it will tend
to slide if it is at an angle to the horizontal or if it is accelerated too rapidly.
Vacuum and magnetic grippers also need a continuous supply of power.

TOOLS
Chapter 7 describes several applications such as arc and spot welding, spray-
ing and grinding for which the robot carries a tool. Other tools are gas
torches, ladles, drills, wrenches, screwdrivers and inspection equipment.
In deciding whether a tool is suitable for robot use several factors must
be taken into account:
1) the weight of the tool;
2) the positional and angular accuracy with which it must aligned
with the workpiece;
3) any sensing needed to use it;
4) the rigidity with which it must be held (tools such as grinders
and wrenches exert a large reaction on the robot);
5) cables, hoses and other supplies;
6) reliability (a tool such as a screwdriver which jams once in a
thousand operations might be acceptable by a person but is
useless for a robot).

TOOL AND GRIPPER CHANGING

Tools are generally attached to the outermost link of the wrist, in place
of a gripper. The attachment may be permanent (but allowing the tool
to be changed by maintenance staff) or may use some quick-release
mechanism which the robot can operate. Tools and grippers can then be
kept in a magazine from which the robot can select one. A variation of
this is for the gripper to be fixed but to have interchangeable jaws. If there
is any danger that the tools might be put in the magazine in the wrong
order, an identity mark such as a bar code can be put on each tool, to
be read by a sensor in the wrist interface. The tool interface may have
to allow connection of electric, pneumatic or hydraulic supplies. Figure
2.26 shows a KUKA robot with automatic tool changing.

38
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

Figure 2.26 A robot with a quick-change tool adaptor. In (a) a gripper is attached, and in (b)
a double bolt driver (courtesy of KUKA Welding Systems & Robots Ltd).

ANTHROPOMORPHIC AND OTHER ADAPTIVE HANDS

An anthropomorphic hand is one resembling the human hand in having
a thumb opposed to several fingers, the thumb and fingers each having
several joints. It is a special case of the adaptive hand which by using several
joints can wrap round or otherwise grip a wide range of objects . We must
also distinguish between teleoperated hands in which each finger joint follows
that of a human operator, who provides all the intelligence needed for adap-
tive grasping, and computer-controlled hands. Satisfactory operation of
a computer-controlled hand is difficult because, in addition to the problem
of actuating such a complex mechanism, it must be possible for the com-
puter to sense joint angles, contacts and pressures, and to interpret these
in terms of an internal model ofthe held object and the grasping process .
This is a long way from being accomplished except in special cases, and
no industrial robot is today fitted with an adaptive hand of any complexity.
The adaptability discussed so far is an active capacity needing intelligence,
but the term is also used for structures which conform passively to a variety
of shapes. This can be done by elastic jaw liners, inflatable grippers or
other means .

39
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

Two-dimensional adaptive grippers

Many objects can be grasped well enough by a hand with two digits swinging
in the same plane, like a two-jaw gripper except that the digits are more
complicated. The simplest advance on the two-jaw gripper is to incorporate
extra joints (Figure 2.27). Such hands have rarely been used, perhaps
because the added complexity confers little advantage. An extension ofthis
idea, again with limited practical success, is shown in Figure 2.28 in which
a whole chain of finger segments, collectively actuated by a single grip wire
and a release wire, can wrap round an object of arbitrary shape.

Figure 2.27 Adapting gripper with two jointed fingers; the joints may all be independently
powered or some may be coupled together.

release wire

.--c-6)------
I

\ b - ----L---..../
grip wir~

Figure 2.28 Adaptive gripper with many joints but needing only two actuators.

Anthropomorphic hands
The most advanced hand at present is the dextrous hand (DH) being
developed by the University of Utah and MIT. (A similar hand is also
being developed at Stanford.) It has three fingers and a thumb, each with
four joints, and a three-axis wrist (Figure 2.29).
Each joint is powered by a pair of pneumatic single-acting cylinders via
a pair of tendons; a simplified example is shown in Figure 2.30. The ten-
dons are polymer composite tapes, 3 mm wide, using Kevlar tension fibres.
The actuators use a glass cylinder and a loosely fitting graphite piston for
low friction. This design needs 38 actuators, which are stacked in a dense
array in the forearm. Each actuator is controlled by a specially designed
electropneumatic servo valve designed for servo control of pressure rather
than flow. The whole system is designed for a very fast response and so
the hand will be roughly as fast as a human one.

40
 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURA TIONS FOR ROBOTS

Figure 2.29 The Utah/MIT Dextrous Hand (after Jacobsen et al. 1985). The 38 pneumatic
cylinders which actuate the 19 joints of the hand are arranged in three stacks, with up to 16
in each stack (this allows a maximum of 48 actuators). The tendons for the rear, or proximal,
and middle stacks pass through the spaces between the front, or distal, cylinders. The wrist
actuation method is not shown; also, the three axis arm on which the hand is mounted is only
schematic; it is not part of the design.

Although the mechanical difficulties of making a good anthropomor-

phic hand are extreme, they constitute only part of the problem: there is
a massive control problem in doing any of the many high precision
manipulations possible with the human hand. Some research has been done
with simpler hands, usually with three digits, and quite a lot is known about
the possible interactions, with and without friction, between a held object
and three digits. (Three is a significant number because it allows the hand
to cup an object in a cage of fingers without relying on friction.) Devices
like the Utah/MIT hand will allow such research to be less constrained
by poor mechanics.

pneu matic
cylinders in
forea rm
tendon attachment point

Figure 2.30 Tendon arrangement for the distal joint of one finger of the Utah/MIT Dextrous
Hand.

41
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

Bibliographic notes
For further information on snake-like structures see Lhote et al. (1984),
Thring (1983), Hirose and Umetani (1977), Hirose, Umetani and Oda
(1983), and Taylor (1983).
Lhote also describes several complex gearing schemes for three-axis
wrists, active and passive compliance mechanisms, and gripper designs.
Several chapters of Brady et al. (1983) are devoted to the theory of
compliance.
The Cincinnati Milacron three-roll wrist is described in Stackhouse
(1979).
Many special-purpose grippers, and details of the practical aspects of
magnetic and vacuum grippers, are described in Engelberger (1980). A
large collection of illustrations of hands and grippers is presented in Kato
( 1982).
The Utah/MIT hand is described in Jacobsen et al. (1985). Some ex-
amples of adaptive gripping by three-fingered hands are given in Brady
et al. (1983) and, in a somewhat mathematical treatment, in Kobayashi
(1985).
A recent textbook on the theory and practice of hands and manipula-
tion (including extensive material on the Stanford/JPL hand) is Mason
and Salisbury (1985).

42
Chapter 3
Operation, Programming and Control of
Industrial Robots

Types of industrial robot and their methods of operation

An industrial robot, unlike a telemanipulator, is driven through a sequence
of movements by a program of some kind. The program is executed by
a controller; the basic relationship between the controller and the robot
is shown in Figure 3.1. The controller turns on the joint actuators
(throughout this chapter the terms 'joint' and 'axis' are used inter-
changeably) at the appropriate times, while signals from the joint sensors
are returned to the controller and used for feedback. The types of con-
troller, methods of programming and details of joint servo control are
discussed in the following sections. We begin with the classification of
industrial robots.
joint angle sensor controller
---------~-----------
processor
o 0
program
storage

pump or
power
supply

valves or amplifiers
Figure 3.1 The basic architecture oj an industrial robot.

Industrial robots can be classified by the method of control and by the

method'ofteaching or programming; although certain control methods and
teaching methods are almost always used together, in principle the two
bases of classification are separate.
The main classes of control are as follows:
1) pick and place (non-servo),
2) point to point,
3) continuous path.
It is important to note that these classes are a reflection of the kinds of

43
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

hardware and control law used to drive the joints. Unfortunately certain
terms, such as point to point, are used both in this context and in that
of teaching. As will be seen, a robot which is continuous path from the
point of view of control theory may be taught in a point to point way.

PICK AND PLACE MANIPULATORS

Pick and place or limited sequence manipulators, which are not always counted
as robots at all, use mechanical stops to set two stopping positions on each
axis. The joint must travel backwards and forwards between these two end
stops, whose positions can be adjusted when the machine is set up; it is
not possible to select any intermediate stopping point, although sometimes
extra stops can be inserted for particular parts of the program. This is usually
done by solenoid-operated pins which when extended prevent the arm mov-
ing beyond them.
Pick and place robots are usually pneumatic since there is no need for
servo control of position; the speed of each axis is limitied by an orifice
on the actuator. They are fast and relatively cheap; as the name suggests
they are limited to the transfer of parts from one place to another. The
parts are always well orientated at the pick-up site, and often only three
or four degrees of freedom are needed. Some designs are modular, allow-
ing the user to select how many degrees offreedom to provide. An exam-
ple of a pick and place robot is shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2 A pick and place or limited sequence robot. It is pneumatically powered and has two
grippers so it can do the two stages of a transfer process on two successive workpieces at once
(courtesy of Fairey Automation Ltd).

44
 OPERA TION, PROGRAMMING AND CONTROL OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS

POINT TO POINT ROBOTS

Point to point robots have servo position control of each axis and can go
through a sequence of specified points. The path between these points is
unspecified. There can be any number of stopping positions in each axis.
The program for such a robot consists of a series of points; for each point
all the joint angles (or distances in the case of prismatic joints) must be
specified.
This method of operation implies that the actuator for each joint is con-
trolled by a position servo (see the section 'Servo control of actuators' in
this chapter). Speed* and acceleration are not controlled explicitly, although
in practice they are limited in some way, if only because the actuators have
a finite top speed. The result is that each axis of the arm moves at a nearly
constant speed between programmed points. Such an arm is clearly un-
suitable for tasks requiring speed control. It is really just a pick and place
machine with an arbitrarily large number of programmable positions.
A further limitation is that it is not in general possible to guarantee that
a segment of the programmed path will take a desirable form. For example,
the payload cannot be made to move in a straight line unless this coincides
with the axis of a prismatic joint. This is why assembly robots so often
have a prismatic joint parallel to the main axis of the assembly (usually
vertical).

CONTINUOUS PATH ROBOTS

Continuous path robots do not go through a finite list of target points but
can, ideally, execute a smooth path of any shape, with continuous varia-
tion of speed as the arm moves along the path. This requires not only servo
control of the velocity of each joint but that several joints move at once
in a coordinated way, whereas for a point to point robot it is possible,
although not compulsory, to move only one joint at a time.

Methods of teaching and programming

How does an industrial robot determine what movement to make next?
There are two extreme possibilities: the movement is calculated at the time,
or it is replayed from an existing program or recording. The first method
is necessary if the robot is to respond continuously to sensory inputs, e. g .
if it is to follow a surface using a proximity sensor. Otherwise, the second
method can be used. This is the method in general use. An intermediate
case is for the program to have branches selected by sensor signals, or to
accept certain values, such as a desired gripper rotation angle, from an
external source .
• 'Speed' is used here to mean the linear velocity of a prismatic joint and the angular velocity of a
revolute one, and, when applied to the whole arm, to mean roughly the linear velocity of the payload.
'Position' and 'acceleration' are used in a similarly flexible way.

45
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

This section concentrates on non-sensory robots. Such a robot is always

driven by a program, whether this is a sequence of indivisible actions, a
sequence of target positions or a continuous record of position or velocity.
If this program is acquired by somehow causing the robot to go through
the required motions while these are recorded, the robot is said to be taught.
Whether teaching is a form of programming or an alternative to it is merely
a question of definition on which there is no universal agreement. This
section describes four basic methods of teaching and programming. Many
robots allow a choice or combination of these methods so that taught se-
quences can be interspersed with or embedded in a program which has
been written off-line. Also, when the user teaches a robot a pair of path
end points, the detailed trajectory of the arm between them may be
generated by the same software regardless of whether the end points were
taught by leading through or were programmed off-line.

PROGRAMMING PICK AND PLACE ROBOTS

The crudest form of programming is the setting up of a pick and place
machine. This has two parts: the mechanical end stops are set in place
for each axis, and the sequence in which the joints operate is programm-
ed. The sequencer on early machines was a mechanical device such as a
multiposition rotary switch with several cams on its spindle, each cam
operating contacts to switch power to the solenoid valves for the pneumatic
cylinders. Each end stop had a limit switch to detect when the joint reached
the end of its travel. The activation of a limit switch caused the sequencer
to rotate a few degrees to its next position, at which the connections were
made to turn on the next joint. The order in which the joints operated
was determined by the pattern of connections between the sequencer and
the solenoid valves. This pattern was made on a plugboard, and putting
the plugs in the right places was how the manipulator was programmed.
In more modern pick and place machines the mechanical sequencer and
plugboard are replaced by an electronic, microprocessor-based controller,
allowing the arm to be programmed by typing a series of axis identifica-
tion codes on a small keyboard. The controller has interfaces for reading
the limit switches and driving the valves. It can be a general purpose in-
dustrial controller as used for machine tools. Such controllers allow the
storage of several programs, and these may have subroutines and allow
a wide choice of time delays between actions. One controller may be able
to handle several robots in a coordinated way, and to interlock their opera-
tion with that of other machinery.

WALK-THROUGH TEACHING OR PENDANT TEACHING*

This is the most usual method with point to point servo robots. A hand-
held box or 'pendant' has buttons, toggle switches or joysticks corresponding

46
 OPERA TION, PROGRAMMING AND CONTROL OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS

to each axis of the arm, which cause the axis to be driven under power
(but possibly faster or slower than it will move when the program is played
back). The user drives the robot to a required position using these con-
trols and then presses a button which causes all the joint position sensors
to be read and their values stored; the robot is then driven to the next posi-
tion on its required path and so on.
This method of teaching has certain consequences not obvious at first
sight. An important one is that since the path between two programmed
points is unspecified, and since there will usually be several joints active
at once, the arm may not approach a target point from the same direction
as it did during teaching. Therefore an extra point is often inserted into
a program so that the approach to a critical point requires movement of
just one axis. Intermediate points are also inserted to take the path round
obstacles.
A related consequence is that, if the movement between two programmed
points uses two or more joints, then it is likely that one joint will have a
shorter distance to travel and will therefore finish before the others. The
resulting trajectory of the payload will therefore consist of a series of arcs
with abrupt direction changes. Both of these effects can be avoided, at the
cost of reduced overall speed, by building the program exclusively from
segments in which only one joint is moved at a time.

WALK-THROUGH TEACHING WITH PATH CONTROL

Some of the problems just mentioned can be overcome provided that con-
tinuous path control is available, together with suitable software. When
the user has entered two points on the desired path, the robot's computer
calculates a straight line between the points which the robot can follow,
at a speed chosen by the user, at playback time.
This method can be used only with a continuous path robot, although
to the user teaching the robot it resembles teaching a point to point robot.
An example of its uses is in paint spraying in cases where there are long
straight runs of the spray gun, which can be specified by teaching just the
start point and end point of the run.
Robots with this path control feature usually have a lot of computing
power and good servo control and so can offer other facilities, such as
generating a circular path by interpolation given three points on its cir-
cumference, or the ability to move in a straight line in some useful co-
ordinate system .

• 'Walk-through' is used here to mean teaching with a hand-held pendant as explained below, and
'lead-through' to mean physically leading the arm, as described shortly. As often as not in existing
sources, however, these terms are used in the opposite sense: lead-through for teaching with a pen-
dant and walk-through for physically leading an arm. It would perhaps be best to abandon these terms
and use 'pendant teaching' and 'physical arm leading' instead.

47
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

LEAD-THROUGH TEACHING OR PHYSICAL ARM LEADING

In this form of teaching the user carries out the required motions with his
own hand, while holding some device for recording the path taken. This
device may be the manipulator itself or a replica arm, the 'master arm'
or 'teaching arm', which is geometrically similar to the robot but is light
enough to move easily, is unpowered and has angurar or displacement
sensors on its joints similar to those on the robot. The signals from these
are recorded and become the program which the robot plays back. The
program can be replayed at a fraction or multiple of the speed at which
it was recorded.
Since the joint positions are recorded continuously, this method can be
used for continuous path robots, and is commonly used for tasks such as
some kind of paint spraying in which the movements are complex and con-
tinuous. A point to point robot can also be taught by lead-through, the
joint positions being recorded just at those moments when the user presses
a button.

OFF-LINE PROGRAMMING
The alternative to teaching a robot by driving it through its cycle of opera-
tions is to type in a program at a computer terminal. In the simplest case
the program consists of a series of commands of the form 'move axis A
through distance D'. These commands are expressed in some language
designed for robot programming. Since the program which actually con-
trols the robot is not in this form but is instead concerned with primitive
operations such as turning valves on and off, the program that the user
enters must be compiled to yield a control program in the computer's
machine code. A later section discusses some of the languages which have
been designed for programming industrial robots.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF SENSING FOR ROBOT CONTROL

Whatever the method of teaching or programming, provision must be made
to incorporate sensor tests or measurements, if only interlock signals, into
the program. Teaching pendants allow the user to insert an instruction
causing the arm to await an external signal between arm movements. This
is easy to arrange since the controller only has to do one thing at a time.
A more complex case is when it must monitor some sensor input while
the robot is moving and take appropriate action if an input occurs. More
complex still is when sensor readings, such as the speed of a conveyor,
must be continuously used, in real time, to compute the trajectory of the
arm as it moves along the conveyor.

48
 OPERA TION, PROGRAMMING AND CONTROL OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS

Types of controller and program memory

As explained earlier, pick and place arms use microprocessor-based con-
trollers. The program consists of a sequence of axis movements, each being
specified by an identification code. Other elements in the program are time
delays, entered as a number of seconds or milliseconds, and instructions
to wait for interlock signals.
Point to point robots need a means of storing joint positions; so, for
example, a six-axis robot each of whose axes had a positional accuracy of
one part in 1024 (212) would need to store six 12-bit words for each pro-
grammed point on the path. A capacity of several hundred points is usual.
Many forms of digital memory have been used, such as magnetic bubble
devices, cassettes tape, floppy discs, and semiconductor memories. Since
the robot must not forget its program when switched off, some form of
non-volatile memory is needed - hence the predominance of magnetic
methods. Often there is a memory for the current program and also
removable storage using cassettes or floppy discs so that programs can be
stored away from the robot and transferred between robots.
The memory of a continuous path robot is similar, except that many
more data values must be stored. In the simplest case the robot functions
essentially as a point to point robot with many closely spaced points, i.e.
the program is recorded by sampling the joint angles 50 or 60 times a second.
When played back all these points are retraced, and so there may be
thousands of them if the program takes more than a few seconds. In this
system each joint is driven by a position servo, but the points are so close
together that it does not come to rest at each position but is in continuous
motion.
The computing power of robot controllers varies enormously, from a
single 8-bit microcomputer for the whole robot to systems having a 16-bit
single-board computer per joint, in which case the issue of coordinating
all these computers becomes significant.

Analysis and control

Analysis means finding a mathematical description of a robot in relation
to its surroundings, which will allow the calculation of the geometric and
dynamical quantities used in controlling it. Control in the sense of this
and the following sections means operating the robot's actuators so as to
produce a specified path and velocity of the payload.
Both analysis and control are complicated by the multiple-link nature
of manipulators, which implies that both geometric calculations, such as
computing the distance from the end effector to a fixed workpiece given
all the joint angles, and dynamical ones, such as finding the effective
moment of inertia acting on a particular actuator, can be difficult. The
subject is necessarily highly mathematical, and its details are of interest

49
FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT TECHNOLOGY

to a small proportion of those who work with robots: therefore this book
aims only to give an overview of the issues involved.
It is nearly always assumed that a robot can be regarded as a chain of
rigid links connected by revolute or prismatic joints at which actuators,
regarded as torque or force generators, act. The control of flexible struc-
tures is in its infancy and will not be discussed.
With this assumption, there is a set of important problems in analysis
and control, and most of the literature on robot control addresses one or
other of these. Some have accepted solutions; others are the subject of
research. They are as follows:

1) formulating the kinematic equations (joint coordinates to world

coordinates) ;
2) solving the kinematic equations (world coordinates to joint co-
ordinates);
3) the forward problem of dynamics - finding the motions
resulting from joint torques; *
4) the inverse problem of dynamics - finding the torques needed
to produce a given motion;
5) specifying a trajectory between target points on the path;
6) actuator servo control - for a single actuator, how to drive it
so as to produce a specified position, velocity or torque.

Any task for a robot involves some combination of these. In the simplest
case, that of a manually taught point to point robot, only (6) is needed,
whereas if the tip of the arm of a continuous path robot is to describe a
circle specified in world coordinates most of them are needed. (World co-
ordinates are those in which the base of the robot is fixed.)
These six problems are now described.

FORMULATING THE KINEMATIC EQUATIONS

Kinematics is concerned with distances and angles and translational and
angular velocities and accelerations, but not with forces, masses, torques
and moments of inertia, which are the province of dynamics.
If the position and orientation of, say, a tool held by a robot is required
relative to the fixed world and if all the link dimensions and joint angles
are known, the calculation can be made in a standard way. A three-
dimensional coordinate system is embedded in each link, as shown in Figure
3.3. For each joint a transformation is found between the coordinate system
of the two links it connects; if this operation is applied to each joint in suc-
cession, the relationship between any two links, including the payload and
the fixed base of the robot, can be found. These transformations are

'To avoid writing 'force or torque', 'velocity or angular velocity' and so on, this discussion uses terms
such as 'torque' with the understanding that the equivalent translational or rotational term is implicit.

50
 OPERA TION, PROGRAMMING AND CONTROL OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS

expressed as equations called the kinematic equations of the manipulator. It

is convenient to use homogeneous coordinates for the system of each link, and
in this case the kinematic equations take the form of matrix multiplica-
tions. Therein lies their advantage, for a chain oftransformations is simply
a chain of matrix multiplications and so the relationship between any two
links is easily expressed. (In homogeneous coordinates a fourth element
w is appended to the usual three coordinates x, y, and z. It represents a
scale factor. Its introduction allows translations, rotations and scalings all
to be accomplished by matrix multiplication, and it is the usual formalism
adopted in computer graphics. It has the advantage for robots that revolute
and prismatic joints can be treated in the same way.)

X3

Z3

• Y2

Y4

X4

Z4

Figure 3.3 Coordinate systems attached to the segments of an ami.

SOLVING THE KINEMATIC EQUATIONS

The previous problem is straightforward in principle, although when written
out in full the transformation matrices can be complicated, but the inverse
problem may have a less systematic solution, and not always a unique one.
This problem is to take a given position and orientation of the gripper or
payload and to compute from it the joint angles of the arm. It is important
since tasks are often specified in terms of the position of the payload and
we want the robot system to work out for itself what joint angles are needed

51
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
"No, man," agreed McTavish who had come up to the control room
again. "That cursed devil's mantle is still there!"
The Captain's blue eyes burned into the forward screen. "They're
waiting on Terra Base, too," he grated. "But we'd see the break first.
The light would come back at the edges, and—" he stumbled over
the implication of the next words, "work-in-toward-the-center!"
McTavish's grey eyes blazed suddenly. "In toward the center, man!
Right! But the moon isn't at the center!"
Jon was already shouting into the phone: "Observation Officer.
Locate the exact center of that area, in relation to this ship, Terra,
and Luna.
"Navigation! Get bearings from Observation, and plot torpedo course
for dead center."
"This will do it, Sir," shouted the Engineer. "I should have thought of
it, Sir, begging your pardon."
"It may be well protected, Sir," Clemens suggested.
Clemens quietly relayed the report from Observation: "Impossible to
locate exact center, Sir. Whole area is shifting constantly,
unpredictably." He shot a look of glum satisfaction at McTavish, and
added: "The approximate center is on the far side of Terra and Luna,
Sir."
"A space ship," McPartland said savagely, "flying an erratic course.
We don't have much chance finding it with a torpedo."
"The torpedoes can be adjusted for magnetism, Sir," said the
Engineer.
McPartland smiled. "If the torpedoes were floating free in space and
we can adjust them to do that—the field would attract them to any
ship within a Spacial Unit.
"Mister McTavish, I want to sow a hundred of them as magnetic
space mines in the approximate center of your devil's mantle."
McTavish released his torpedoes into the blackness. One by one they
blasted off. The three in the control room watched their fiery jets
disappear into the emptiness of the forward screen.
"They'll go dead and float," McPartland told Clemens, "and explode
on contact." He clenched his big hands, and laughed harshly. "If we
could only see it!"
"How long, Sir?" Reynolds asked quietly. "Will it be soon enough?"
"It's got to be soon enough," the Captain snapped.
"If Marshal Denton surrenders, Sir," Clemens pointed out, "and the
light is restored, the outlaws would see the mines. They could—"
The Engineer's voice rang in his headset, and he winced. The others
heard McTavish's words over the phone: "The light! The light, man!
They hit one of the torpedoes!"
"We hope—" Clemens said.
Jon's glance swept to the forward screen. Starlight was cutting into
the edges of the blackness. He watched that hated blackness shrink
—shrink, until Terra floated blue and beautiful oh the view screen.
"Terra," Jon whispered, half to himself, "Whose Terra?"
The Lieutenant-Commander winced again as another voice rang in
his ears, and he relayed without an attempt at pessimism:
"Observation reports wreckage of ship, Sir, and presence of ninety-
eight floating mines."
McPartland spoke into the phone himself: "Navigation. Course for
Terra Base. Pass through mined area. Mister Reynolds would like a
little practice—destroying the extra mines."
Reynolds, a grateful smile on his round face, ran his finger lovingly
over the calculators, and spoke into his mike: "All ray stations. Fire
on command only." The calculators clicked. "Station Six, range—"
Almira Denton looked up at Captain Jon McPartland with eyes that
were the soft hue of Terra itself.
"Almira," he said, "about that—that case report."
She smiled, and the curve of her soft lips was as it had been in his
mind since he left on patrol. "Jon darling," she laughed. "We can
forget that. When the Congress gets through ferreting out its
traitors, and hearing your report, father won't need my help with
them."
"But I want you to analyze me," he insisted.
"I mean to, Jon," she agreed gently. "But only for my own
information."
"And mine, too, darling," he said. "I want you to analyze a dream,"
McPartland said firmly. "I keep seeing a little asteroid—one I
explored when I had a one-man Patrol scout, way back. I keep
seeing it with an atmosphere unit installed, and a Terra-gravity unit.
There's a house, and a beautiful woman with red-gold hair and
gorgeous eyes, and a little boy named Patrick, and a little girl named
Kathleen."
He paused, watching her eyes as the puzzlement was replaced by
understanding. "What do you suppose the dream means?" he asked.
"Tell me more about it, Jon," Almira asked softly.
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