Commercial CAD tools based digital integrated development platform for laser cutting robot

A digital integrated development platform, which is based on Pro/E, ADAMS, ANSYS and Matlab, is introduced in this paper. A type of 6-DOF industrial robot for laser cutting is developed on this platform. In the virtual environment, the development efficiency is improved, as well as the reliability of the robot. The 3D parametric model of the laser cutting robot is firstly built by using Pro/E. Through the interface module between Pro/E and ADAMS, the 3D model is transferred to ADAMS. Then the kinematics model and dynamic model are set up. The model of robot control system is obtained with Matlab/Simulink. The dynamic model and the control system model are combined by ADAMS/control. Uniting ADAMS and Matlab, the characteristic of the robot is investigated. The load file which contains the load information of the flexible part is, then, obtained. Together with this file and ANSYS, the finite element analysis of the robot could be made. Ultimately, according to the analysis result, the structure of the robot would be optimized. It can obviously save time to develop the cutting robot on this platform, which consists of the four kinds of software mentioned in this paper. The results of the simulation are close to the real. Thus, it will provide the basis for making the physical prototype.