Conterweight synthesis for time-optimal robotic path following

The goal of this research is to explore the potential of adding counterweights to the robot structure in order to decrease the optimal motion time for path following problems. Through the addition of counterweights to the robot links, the torques required to move the robot links could be compensated, and hence the actuator can use the excess of torque to move the link faster. The aim is hence to find the motion timing along a predetermined geometric path and simultaneously synthesise counterweights for the robot links. In general this is a strongly non-convex problem. However, by projecting the motion along the predetermined geometric path and transforming the dynamic parameters, a more efficient hi-linear optimization problem is obtained. This is illustrated with two numerical examples for basic robot systems, illustrating the proposed approach and relevance towards practical applications.