Communications of the ACM
Smooth Robot Movements Reduce Energy Consumption By p to 40 Percent
Researchers in Sweden have developed an optimization algorithm with the potential to reduce energy consumption in robot-intensive manufacturing by as much as 40%.
Credit: Oscar Mattsson
An optimization algorithm developed by researchers in Sweden could potentially reduce energy consumption in robot-intensive manufacturing industries by up to 40%.
The algorithm is designed to optimize a robot's movements in a manner that reduces acceleration and deceleration, in addition to the time a robot is at a standstill, as a robot that is at a standstill still consumes energy.
"We simply let the robot move slower instead of waiting for other robots and machines to catch up before carrying out the next sequence," says Chalmers University of Technology professor Bengt Lennartson.
Moreover, the optimization determines the order in which various operations are carried out without reducing total execution time. The speed and sequence of the robot is altered rather than its operation path.
Safe optimization would require coordinating several robots that are moving in the same area. The optimizer will initially identify where robots may collide, as well as the entry and exit positions for each collision zone, and for each robot path. Robots can consume about half of the total energy used for production in such industries.
"The goal is to make this kind of optimization standard, and included in robots from the start," notes Chalmers researcher Kristofer Bengtsson.
From Chalmers University of Technology
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