Evaluation of the strength of a three axis serial robot performing a task by integrated dynamic analysis

Three axis serial robots with different sizes are widely used for pick and place, welding and various operations in industry. Developments in mechatronics, which is the synergistic integration of mechanism, electronics and computer control to achieve a functional system, offer effective solutions for the design of such robots. The mechatronic design process involves solid modeling, assembly, rigid body dynamics, finite element rigidity analysis, motion control and computer programming. The integrated dynamic analysis of robots is usually used in design stage. In this study, it is offered that it can also be used in the application stage.In this study SolidWorks, CosmosMotion, ABAQUS is used with an integrated approach. The integration software is developed in VisualBasic by using the application programming interface (API) capabilities of these programs. ABB-IRB1400 industrial robot is considered for the study. Different trajectories are considered. Each task is evaluated by kinematic analysis first. If the task is out of the workspace then the task is canceled. This evaluation can be done also by robot programs like RobotStudio. It is offered in this study that the task must be evaluated by considering the limits for velocities, motor actuation torques, reaction forces, natural frequencies, displacements and stresses due to the flexibility. The results are shown on kinematic, kinetic and rigidity evaluation charts. The results of this work can be used for optimal usage of robots.