Design optimisation of industrial robots using the Modelica multi-physics modeling language
Superior performance of industrial robots can only be achieved if the interaction of mechanics, electronics and software is taken into account already in the design phase. Conventional approaches to modelling, however, cannot cope with such multi-physics systems. The new Modelica modelling language has been specifically developed for this purpose. It also significantly increases re-usability of model components, since components adapt to the connection structure in which they are used. In the European resarch project “Real-time Simulation for Design of Multi-physics Systems“ (RealSim), efficient tools for modelling, simulating and optimising industrial robots are developed. A general Modelica MultiBody library (freely available from [1] or [2]) formed the basis for the development of a specific robot component library. A development environment for creating robot models out of the available components was provided, in which initial calculations to verify the first rough design can also be performed. Tools for automated optimisation were developed that take the initial design as the starting point. Afterwards, the performance of a design can than be verified in a real-time simulation before investing in building a real prototype. These powerful development tools provide the basis for an even more efficient development process and superior robot performance in the future.
A methodology for multi-objective design assessment and flight control synthesis tuning
Abstract Flight control law design is a multi-variable control problem where various strict requirements from multiple disciplines have to be satisfied. This paper describes quality function deployment and its use in multi-objective control synthesis tuning and design assessment, with application to flight control design. The main feature of this methodology is that the various kinds of design objectives can be taken into account in their most natural form and design alternatives can be assessed most visibly with respect to given requirements. Multi-objective synthesis tuning by min-max parameter optimisation allows interactive compromising in the set of what can be best-possibly achieved with a chosen control law structure.
Future design environments for control engineering
Abstract The relationship between user needs and the potential of various computing techniques to satisfy them is examined for an interactive computing environment for work in the field of automatic control. The purpose is to stimulate the discussion of research directions in this field; practical guidelines or recipes for the user are not provided. The material presented is a mixture of surveys of existing work, analyses of needs and possibilities, and proposals and conclusions for further development. Particular stress is placed on the roles of language development, interface development, on conceptual models of the design process; the relative roles of man and machine; and expert systems, and the use of intelligent search techniques.