Study on multidisciplinary design optimization of a 2-degree-of-freedom robot based on sensitivity analysis and structural analysis

The optimization design of a robot was usually conducted by the sequential design, which, however, neglected the interactive impacts of different disciplines. To address this shortage, this article presents a design multidisciplinary optimization procedure for a 2-degree-of-freedom robot. In the proposed design optimization, four disciplines are involved, which are composed of kinematics, dynamics, structure, and control. The coupling relationship among the four disciplines is analyzed based on variable sensitivity analysis. A collaborative optimization is proposed to obtain the optimum values of the system-level optimization. With the method of a genetic algorithm, the individual discipline optimization is executed to obtain the subsystem optimum values. The optimized 2-degree-of-freedom robot is able to synthesize an optimum function value and simultaneously shows a good satisfaction to the requirement of all constraints. The structural analysis results demonstrate that the multidisciplinary design optimization is successfully applied to the multi-degree-of-freedom robot design and provides a beneficial reference for the design of more complicated mechanical system.