Abstract: An analytical approach is presented for the rapid home position calibration of a novel hybrid robot, which is composed of a 3-DOF parallel module and a 2-DOF rotating head, featuring with high stiffness, large workspace and low manufacturing cost. By adding a translational motion along a long reference track, the robot might be employed to configure a robotic cell for automatic drilling or riveting in aircraft structural components assembly. The topology structure of the parallel module is introduced briefly, and a numerical algorithm is proposed to solve the inverse position problem. By using the home position error model of the parallel module, the influence of the home position errors of the limbs upon the position error of the moving platform is evaluated. A laser tracker based home position error identification model of the parallel module is formulated, together with appropriate selection principle of measured points throughout the entire task workspace combining identification accuracy, robustness and efficiency. The simulation results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed home position calibration method.

Key words: hybrid robot;parallel module;home position calibration;laser tracker