Bi-Objective Function Optimization for Welding Robot Parameters to Improve Manipulability

Abstract

This paper presents a study on optimal design to determine the installation position and link lengths of a robot within a designated workspace for welding, aiming to minimize singularities during the robot’s motion. Bi-objective functions are formulated to minimize singularities while maximizing the volumes of linear velocity manipulability ellipsoid and angular velocity manipulability ellipsoid, respectively, ensuring isotropy. We have constructed a simulation environment incorporating PID control to account for robot tracking errors. This environment was utilized as a simulator to derive a Bi-objective function set within a genetic algorithm. Through this, we optimized four robot link length variables and two installation position variables, selecting the optimal design variables on the Pareto Front. In the standard work object, the volume average of the linear velocity manipulability ellipsoid was confirmed to have improved by 72% compared to the initial level, and the isotropy of the angular velocity manipulability ellipsoid was confirmed to have improved by 23% compared to the initial level. Furthermore, correlation analysis between design parameters identified those with a high correlation with the objective functions, and the analysis results are discussed.

Keywords

• robot manipulability
• singularity avoidance
• optimal design
• Pareto optimal
• manipulability ellipsoid
• genetic algorithm