Performance Evaluation of a Flexible Joint Robotic Manipulator Model

Abstract

The robotic manipulator acts like a human arm that can perform a repetitive task. The works aims to evaluate the performance of a flexible joint robotic manipulator model. To achieve this, an algorithm was developed using the dynamic model of the flexible joint robot and a simulation was carried out in MATLAB. The method applied for the performance evaluation of the flexible joint robot model involved the step function and bode plotting techniques which evaluated the plant model in time and frequency domains respectively for performance and stability of the system. The step function determines the damping time of the system while the bode plot determines the stability margins of the system. In this work, the flexible joint robotic manipulator model was analyzed for performance and stability in MATLAB. From the results, the flexible joint robot model recorded damping time of infinity and too many oscillations in time domain which shows that the existing system performance was poor. The flexible joint recorded gain margin of 22.8dB and phase margin is 3.21e-12 deg. These results indicate that the system was not stable. As a result, the flexible joint will keep on vibrating until it heats up and break down. This work therefore recommends a robust compensator to be developed for the flexible joint robot to improve its performance and stability.