Motion planning and synchronized control of the dental arch generator of the tooth-arrangement robot

Background The traditional, manual method of reproducing the dental arch form is prone to numerous random errors caused by human factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the automatic acquisition of the dental arch and implement the motion planning and synchronized control of the dental arch generator of the multi‐manipulator tooth‐arrangement robot for use in full denture manufacture. Methods First, the mathematical model of the dental arch generator was derived. Then the kinematics and control point position of the dental arch generator of the tooth arrangement robot were calculated and motion planning of each control point was analysed. A hardware control scheme is presented, based on the industrial personal computer and control card PC6401. In order to gain single‐axis, precise control of the dental arch generator, we studied the control pulse realization of high‐resolution timing. Real‐time, closed‐loop, synchronous control was applied to the dental arch generator. Experimental control of the dental arch generator and preliminary tooth arrangement were gained by using the multi‐manipulator tooth‐arrangement robotic system. Results The dental arch generator can automatically generate a dental arch to fit a patient according to the patient's arch parameters. Repeated positioning accuracy is 0.12 mm for the slipways that drive the dental arch generator. The maximum value of single‐point error is 1.83 mm, while the arc‐width direction (x axis) is −33.29 mm. Conclusion A novel system that generates the dental arch has been developed. The traditional method of manually determining the dental arch may soon be replaced by a robot to assist in generating a more individual dental arch. The system can be used to fabricate full dentures and bend orthodontic wires. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.