The parameter identification model considering both geometric parameters and joint stiffness

Purpose Both geometric and non-geometric parameters have noticeable influence on the absolute positional accuracy of 6-dof articulated industrial robot. This paper aims to enhance it and improve the applicability in the field of flexible assembling processing and parts fabrication by developing a more practical parameter identification model. Design/methodology/approach The model is developed by considering both geometric parameters and joint stiffness; geometric parameters contain 27 parameters and the parallelism problem between axes 2 and 3 is involved by introducing a new parameter. The joint stiffness, as the non-geometric parameter considered in this paper, is considered by regarding the industrial robot as a rigid linkage and flexible joint model and adds six parameters. The model is formulated as the form of error via linearization. Findings The performance of the proposed model is validated by an experiment which is developed on KUKA KR500-3 robot. An experiment is implemented by measuring 20 positions in the work space of this robot, obtaining least-square solution of measured positions by the software MATLAB and comparing the result with the solution without considering joint stiffness. It illustrates that the identification model considering both joint stiffness and geometric parameters can modify the theoretical position of robots more accurately, where the error is within 0.5 mm in this case, and the volatility is also reduced. Originality/value A new parameter identification model is proposed and verified. According to the experimental result, the absolute positional accuracy can be remarkably enhanced and the stability of the results can be improved, which provide more accurate parameter identification for calibration and further application.