Quantitative Evaluation of Energy Savings in a 3-DOF Manipulator Via Lightweighting with Plastic Structural Parts
Kenji Sekiguchi, Norisato Kanai, Yuta Tsukamoto, Hiroyuki Nabae, Takahiro Aruga, Takeshi Takaki, Naoyuki Takesue, Yusuke Ota, Gen Endo
Abstract
This research quantitatively evaluates the energy- saving effects of lightweighting the structural parts of industiral robots by substituting conventional aluminum alloys with plas- tics. We prototyped three types of 3-DOF vertically articulated robots with structural parts made of A5052 aluminum alloy, a carbon fiber non-woven composite (Feltcarbon), and a 3D- printed composite (Onyx+CF). We then measured the energy consumption of each joint and the total manipulator during a 10-cycle pick-and-place task. The results show that replacing the aluminum alloy with Feltcarbon and Onyx+CF reduces the manipulator’s total energy consumption by 25% and 30%, respectively. At the single-joint level, maximum energy savings reached 44% for Feltcarbon and 53% for Onyx+CF compared to the A5052 baseline.