Performance characteristics and performance testing of industrial robots—stateof the art

Summary Industrial robots are available on the european market since 1970. But till now only few characteristics are defined to compare different devices. In West Germany the IPA-Stuttgart started in 1974 to develop a test stand for industrial robots. During the last few years many other countries started differ­ ent research work to develop test facilities for industrial robots. The paper will give you a rough presentation of the defined characteristics and the various existing test facili­ ties in Europe. Additional to the test procedures the paper will show some results which have been worked out at the IPA­ Stuttgart during the last years. Enclosure In 1975 the IPA-Stuttgart started a research project to deve­ lop a test stand for industrial robots. Until now, about 35 to 40 different robots have been tested. Simultaneously, the IPA, together with the VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure) wor­ ked out robot performance characteristics as well as measurem­ ent guidelines. The following paper will give a survey of this work in Stuttgart and, in a rough summary, of the work of the members universities and manufacturers in other European countries.