Laser pointer for manual teaching of coating robot

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a novel laser pointer for manual coating robot teaching. The laser pointer has simple structure and no physical contact with substrate in teaching work. The sensitivity of visual detection in the design accuracy is guaranteed. Design/methodology/approach The strategy adopts two laser sources to form a triangle to achieve a fixed distance detection pointer for manual robot teaching. After optimizing the source, spot size and the incident angle of the lasers, the sensitivity of fixed-distance judgment is analyzed and compared with traditional pointers. In addition, the laser pointer adds the functions to simulate coating atomizer, including posture and overlap pitch. Finally, the laser pointer verified by coating application and measurement system analysis evaluation. Findings The laser pointer has been successfully applied to coating robot teaching by the authors’ team. From the simulation and experimental results, it can be concluded that the proposed approach is effective at improving manual teaching of coating robot, especially for the complex geometry. Research limitations/implications The main function of the laser pointer often used for manual teaching in other purposes; for example, sealer etc. The paper innovatively considered and tested the laser pointer on robotic coating process. Originality/value Compared with the traditional hard straight stick pointer, the paper proposes a very simple construction for teaching pointer with laser feature. At the same time, the requirement of coating process simulation is considered.