A method for reducing the energy consumption of pick-and-place industrial robots

The interest in novel methods and tools for optimizing the energy consumption in robotic systems is currently increasing. From an industrial point of view, it is desirable to develop energy saving strategies also applicable to established manufacturing systems with no need for either hardware substitution or further investments. Within this scenario, the present paper reports a method for reducing the total energy consumption of pick-and-place manipulators for given TCP position profiles. Firstly, electromechanical models of both serial and parallel manipulators are derived. Then, the energy-optimal trajectories are calculated, by means of constant time scaling, starting from pre-scheduled trajectories compatible with the actuation limits. In this manner, the robot work cycle can be energetically optimized also when the TCP position profiles have been already defined on the basis of technological constraints and/or design choices aimed at guaranteeing manufacturing process efficacy/robustness. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure is finally evaluated on two simulation case studies.