Improved Dynamic Behaviour of Industrial Robots through Hybrid Drives

The objective of this work is to evaluate the accuracy of an industrial robot with hybrid drives for improved dynamic path accuracy and productivity. The dynamic behaviour of industrial robots is profoundly influenced by the drives characteristics in the robot’s joints. For customary industrial robots, the transmission of movement from the motor to the axis link via a gearbox causes inaccuracies along the kinematic chain. To address this context, this work investigates the hybrid drives influence on the dynamic behaviour of a novel industrial robot. Therefore, additional torque drives compensate for errors arising from the limited torsional stiffness of the gearbox. The experimental results on a novel industrial robot underlines the enhancement of dynamic path accuracy and productivity of industrial robots with the presented drive concept.