Analysis of design uncertainties in structurally optimized lightweight machines

Structural optimization methods have been recently successfully applied in optimizing dynamical systems and lightweight machines. The main goal is to reduce the mass of flexible members without deteriorating the accuracy of the system. In this paper, structural optimization based on topology optimization of members of flexible multibody system is introduced and the effects of uncertainty in the optimization process are investigated. Two sources of uncertainty, namely the model uncertainty and the uncertainty in usage are addressed. As an application example, a two-arm manipulator is used to examine and illustrate the effects of uncertainties such as different objective functions, choices of model reduction method as well as changes in the trajectory and payload of the manipulator