A Mechatronics Approach to Design of Path Generators

In a companion paper published elsewhere [1], we proposed a design approach based on the general redundancy concept to improve the dynamic performance of a mechanism, especially shaking moment and driving torque, while fulfilling the required task. The approach was based on a partial redundancy function of the servomotor, so the approach is called partial redundancy servomotor (PRSM). In this paper, we apply the PRSM to the path generator problem in robot design, in particular closed-loop multi-degrees of freedom robots or mechanisms. We demonstrate how the path generator design problem is solved and dynamic performance is improved in an integrated manner with the PRSM approach and how mechanism design and robot design are combined to design a better path generator. The contribution of this paper is the proposed PRSM design procedure. The other contribution is an integrated mechanism design and robot design approach that has implication to other general design problems such as function generator and posture generator.