Object-oriented modeling of industrial manipulators with application to energy optimal trajectory scaling

The development of safe, energy efficient mechatronic sys-tems is currently changing standard paradigms in the design andcontrol of industrial manipulators. In particular, most optimiza-tion strategies require the improvement or the substitution of dif-ferent system components. On the other hand, from an indus-try point of view, it would be desirable to develop energy savingmethods applicable also to established manufacturing systemsbeing liable of small possibilities for adjustments. Within thisscenario, an engineering method is reported for optimizing theenergy consumption of serial manipulators for a given operation.An object-oriented modeling technique, based on bond graph, isused to derive the robot electromechanical dynamics. The systempower flow is then highlighted and parameterized as a function ofthe total execution times. Finally, a case study is reported show-ing the possibility to reduce the operation energy consumptionwhen allowed by scheduling or manufacturing constraints.