ROBOT CONTROL METHOD AND APPARATUS

Even if a stop position of a supplied workpiece is not accurate, in order which an online robot can accurately perform works such as welding and painting, through the use of an offline robot of the same type as the online robot, detecting three reference positions on a workpiece by a first optical three-dimensional position detection means and teaching can be performed. The first coordinate transform matrix A1 stores the coordinates of each of the positions for an operation on the workpiece as the taught contents, when it is assumed that the workpiece is at a first reference position. The online robot uses a second coordinate transform matrix A2 to calculate coordinates when it is assumed that the workpiece is at a second reference position of the online robot and stores these in a second memory, and the reference points of the workpiece which is supplied for processing are detected by a second optical three-dimensional position detection means and a third coordinate transform matrix A3 is used to determine each of the positions for operation on the supplied workpiece and the online robot reproduces them and performs the work. Even if the stop position of the supplied workpiece is not accurate, it is possible for operations to be accurately performed on the work.