Assessment of Industrial Robots

The increasing number and types of automatic handling devices available today makes it difficult to assess their efficiency and accuracy. As in the case of machine tools, the accuracy of handling devices is also dependent on the static, dynamic, kinematic and thermic behaviour of the frame-work and drive units. Currently, work is being done on preparing specifications similar to those existent for assessing machine tools. Although an application of existent recommendations is desirable it is, however, not always possible. Based on Investigations made on industrial robots, this paper presents characteristic quantities to enable the assessment and comparison of the efficiency and the accuracy of both handling devices as well as industrial robots.