Virtual Design of Multi-axis Positioning for Robotic Application

With the development of information technology virtual design is now considered as one of the most important phases in the process of the overall design in engineering. In this paper, multi-axis positioning was virtually designed using commercial finite element code with the intention of application in robot structure. In order to be a realistic design, actual robot model fanuc M-6iB was chosen for reference and virtual robot having five axes similar to the reference robot was designed. The 3D geometry of multi-axes integrated into the robot was created in solid works CAD environment. Solid work model was then imported into finite element (FE) environment for physical analysis. By using joint method and manipulating boundary conditions available in commercial FE package, motion of each manipulator was defined. The element types used for manipulators and joints were brick and beam elements respectively. Materials were specified according to the published report. Currently, linear material model was assumed. Mechanical event simulation was employed to analyze dynamic behavior of the manipulators. Physical response such as stress, strain due to dynamic effect were predicted. Finite element predictions provide consistent rotational displacements with the reference robot. Stress, strain and deformation were also found to be reasonable.