A Comparative Study on the Pick-and-Place Trajectories for a Delta Robot

Abstract

A comparative study on the pick-and-place trajectories for high-speed Delta robots is presented in this paper. The Adept Cycle has been widely accepted as a standardized pick-and-place trajectory for industrial robots. The blending curves and optimization methods to smooth this trajectory are briefly surveyed. Three major types of trajectories: Lamé curves, clothoids and piecewise polynomials, are selected as candidates to be compared. The processes to generate these trajectories are briefly reviewed. The trajectories are firstly compared in term of their computation time. Then, based on a dynamic model and an experimental prototype of the Delta robot, different combinations of the geometric paths and motion profiles are compared in terms of power consumption, terminal state accuracy and residual vibration. The effects of trajectory configurations and parameters on the robot’s dynamic performances are investigated. Through a comprehensive analysis on both simulation and experimental results, a near-optimal pick-and-place trajectory for the Delta robot is identified and validated.