An Analysis on the Modeling Accuracy of Industrial Manipulators with Inherent Joint Elasticity

High precision industrial applications call for equally precise functioning of industrial manipulators, which in turn requires accurate modeling of the manipulators. This paper carries out a detailed study on the modeling of industrial manipulators with elastic joints to improve their accuracy. In particular, the effect of adopting a simple harmonic drive (HD) model and ignoring a dynamic effect called low inertia coupling between the actuators and links on the model accuracy has been analyzed from a parameter estimation perspective. Since the aforementioned model characteristics have been generally ignored for high gear reduction ratios, this study is carried out with five different reduction ratios ranging from low to high, where three different models of a three-joints elastic manipulator are considered. The accuracy of the models is compared using the torque performance metrics of a predefined joint motion of the robot. Furthermore, the impact of the models with different accuracy is assessed by carrying out a state-of-the-art dynamic parameter estimation, and the resulting errors are compared to ascertain the merits of adopting a detailed elastic dynamic model of a manipulator.