Integrated structure/control design of high-speed flexible robot arms using topology optimization

Most robotic applications demand lightweight and high-speed manipulators for considerably reducing the consumed power and achieving high production rates. The two ways for seeking such high-speed arms are; applying advanced control algorithms and/or performing an extensive optimization of the arm structure itself. Therefore, the topology optimization technique is proposed here for obtaining an optimal robot arm design from both structure and control viewpoints. Results of some researches, that have been previously accomplished by size and shape optimization, were encouraging enough to extend and propose this optimization approach. The method of moving asymptotes (MMA) as an optimization algorithm, the finite element analysis (FEA) by ANSYS, and the time-optimal control method are integrated to gain an optimum design capable of attaining the minimum traveling time. The proposed methodology focuses on performing different comparisons between the proposed optimum topological designs and their initial designs for different robot arms’ sizes and materials. It also distinguishes between the proposed optimum design and the previously achieved one by size optimization under the same operational conditions. Therefore, the significance of the proposed technique is emphasized. It shows that the traveling time is reduced by 44.8%, while the previous work only achieved 23.5%. In addition, the mass is reduced to nearly half of its initial value, taking into account the air damping as the real case in all terrestrial applications.