Copyright © 2012 Zhong Luo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

An effective structural optimization method based on a sensitivity analysis is proposed to optimize the variable section of a slender robot arm. The structure mechanism and the operating principle of a polishing robot are introduced firstly, and its stiffness model is established. Then, a design of sensitivity analysis method and a sequential linear programming (SLP) strategy are developed. At the beginning of the optimization, the design sensitivity analysis method is applied to select the sensitive design variables which can make the optimized results more efficient and accurate. In addition, it can also be used to determine the scale of moving step which will improve the convergency during the optimization process. The design sensitivities are calculated using the finite difference method. The search for the final optimal structure is performed using the SLP method. Simulation results show that the proposed structure optimization method is effective in enhancing the stiffness of the robot arm regardless of the robot arm suffering either a constant force or variable forces.