Component inspection is often the bottleneck in high-value manufacturing, driving industries like aerospace toward automated inspection technologies. Current systems often employ fixed arm robots, but they lack the flexibility in adapting to new components or orientations Advanced mobile robotic platforms with updated sensor technologies and algorithms have improved localization and path planning capabilities, making them ideal for bringing inspection processes directly to parts. However, mobile platforms introduce challenges in localization and maneuverability, leading to potential errors. Their positional uncertainty is higher than fixed systems due to the lack of a fixed calibrated location, posing challenges for position-sensitive inspection sensors. Therefore, it's essential to assess the positional accuracy and repeatability of mobile manipulator platforms. The KUKA KMR iiwa was chosen for its collaborative features, robust build, and scalability within the KUKA product range. The accuracy and repeatability of the mobile platform were evaluated through a series of tests to evaluate the performance of its integrated feature mapping, the effect of various speeds on positional accuracy, and the efficiency of the omnidirectional wheels for a range of translation orientations. Experimental evaluation revealed that enabling feature mapping substantially improves the KUKA KMR iiwa's performance, with accuracy gains and error reductions exceeding 90%. Repeatability errors were under 7 mm with mapping activated and around 2.5 mm in practical scenarios, demonstrating that mobile manipulators, incorporating both the manipulator and platform, can fulfil the precise requirements of industries with high precision needs. Providing a highly diverse alternative to traditional fixed-base industrial manipulators.

翻译：部件检测常成为高价值制造中的瓶颈，推动着航空航天等行业采用自动化检测技术。现有系统多采用固定式机械臂，但缺乏适应新部件或新方向的灵活性。配备先进传感器技术与算法的移动机器人平台提升了定位与路径规划能力，使其成为将检测流程直接应用于部件的理想选择。然而，移动平台在定位与机动性方面存在挑战，可能导致误差。由于缺乏固定校准位置，其位置不确定性高于固定系统，这对位置敏感型检测传感器构成挑战。因此，评估移动操作平台的位置精度与重复性至关重要。本研究选用KUKA KMR iiwa平台，因其协作特性、坚固结构及在KUKA产品系列中的可扩展性。通过系列测试评估了移动平台的精度与重复性，包括其集成特征映射的性能、不同速度对位置精度的影响，以及全向轮在多种平移方向上的运行效率。实验评估表明，启用特征映射能显著提升KUKA KMR iiwa的性能，精度提升与误差降低幅度超过90%。启用映射后重复性误差小于7毫米，实际场景中约为2.5毫米，证明集成机械臂与平台的移动操作器能满足高精度行业的严苛要求，为传统固定基座工业机械臂提供了高度多样化的替代方案。