An analysis of the effect of gravitational load on the energy consumption of industrial robots

Abstract The gravitational load has a great impact on industrial robots’ torque. Much research has gone into investigating this parameter in order to find an effective solution for achieving high performance of the robot systems. However, the existing investigations are still limited to analyze the influence of the gravitational load on the robot torque behavior. An analysis of the direct influence of gravitational load on electrical energy consumption has not yet been explored. This paper provides a model based approach for analyzing the effect of the gravitational load to the energy consumption. A mechatronic simulation tool is used for analyzing robot energy consumption. The results show that the gravitational load has an influence on the energy consumption of high-mass industrial robots, especially during upward movement.