Optimal control for reducing the energy consumption of a reconfigurable parallel robot

The paper presents the control architecture of the PENTROB reconfigurable parallel robot with five degrees of freedom, pointing out several ways of reducing the electric energy consumption. Based on the implicit functions which characterize the relation between the coordinates of the active joints and the end-effector pose, the control functions are determined. The control program of the robot is described, presenting the internal architecture of the software and hardware components together with the man-machine interface which provides four possibilities of controlling the robot. The energy consumption reduction is approached through several different ways: the use of an intelligent driver, the configuration of the driver using the advanced microstepping control technique.