Modelling an industrial manipulator a case study

Abstract

A practical application of the modelling and validation of an open-chain industrial manipulator is presented in this paper. Both mechanical and electrical equations of motion were used to provide a complete model description. A model was obtained to enable an optimal path-planning controller to be designed. The paper describes how the equations of motion were derived and how the key parameters were obtained. The manipulator was simulated with TELEGRIP software. A validation procedure is illustrated and its' limitations exposed. The overall motion was found to give an agreement with the model predictions to within 86% for the smallest link and better than 96% for the major joints.