Stiffness Modeling of Robotic-Manipulators Under Auxiliary Loadings

International audienceThe paper focuses on the extension of the virtual-joint-based stiffness modeling technique for the case of different types of loadings applied both to the robot end-effector and to manipulator intermediate points (auxiliary loading). It is assumed that the manipulator can be presented as a set of compliant links separated by passive or active joints. It proposes a computationally efficient procedure that is able to obtain a non-linear force-deflection relation taking into account the internal and external loadings. It also produces the Cartesian stiffness matrix. This allows to extend the classical stiffness mapping equation for the case of manipulators with auxiliary loading. The results are illustrated by numerical examples