Ricoh Develops a Detailed Model for Robot Actuator Design
“With Simscape Multibody, we could create the robot actuator model easily and intuitively. The 3D animation was useful for model review and analysis.”
Key Outcomes
- Developed model of complex system in half a day by importing CAD data
- Reproduced hardware characteristics including nonlinearities in simulation
- Used 3D animation for intuitive model validation of robot behavior
The Simscape Multibody model of the double motor actuator (left), and the robot (right).
Ricoh used Simscape Multibody™ to model a double motor actuator robot component for control system development and verification without prototypes using Model-Based Design. Ricoh engineers created the model in half a day from CAD data and virtually reproduced the actual hardware characteristics in simulation.
Using their conventional simulation techniques, reproducing the characteristics of the double motor actuator—which is composed of multibody and non-linear components to accommodate multiple motors and multi-stage gears—was not easy. By using Simscape Multibody, they were able to intuitively model joints and nonlinear components for the complex multibody system. The ability to animate the robot behavior was helpful in the model validation process. In addition, the engineers at Ricoh were able to develop the model efficiently by importing 3D CAD data.
