Parametric optimization of link lengths of a scara robot for deburring of circular paths

Abstract

SCARA (Selective Compliant articulated robot arm) is a special manipulator used for high speed applications. SCARA is a 4-DOF manipulator with 3 revolute and 1 prismatic joint. It is well known that deburring is burr removal process after machining or casting processes. Circular components are very common in engineering applications. This paper aims at optimizing the power of the first two link lengths of a SCARA manipulator used for deburring of circular path. A circular path for deburring of 0.06 m diameter is considered and it is assumed that to complete one cycle of circular path it takes 10 s of time and the analysis is carried out in 12 steps in this time. The range of link lengths are provided as input along with distance between base of a SCARA robot and position of the deburring component as 0.35 m. Kinematic and dynamic equations of a SCARA robot are used to calculate the objective function for minimizing power. 12 steps are used to complete one cycle and to obtain the power at 12 steps and also there by obtain minimum power required in that operation for the combination of link lengths. A MATLAB program is generated which computes power at each set of link length combination which when plotted for all combinations yields information on the optimized set of link lengths.