Optimal Design of High-Dynamic Robotic Arm Based on Angular Momentum Maximum

In industrial applications, precision and load capacity are critical performance metrics for robotic arms. These requirements are typically addressed using high-gear-ratio designs. However, robotic arms are increasingly tasked with high-dynamic operations, such as smashes in sports and object throwing, where traditional design paradigms and evaluation metrics are insufficient. Drawing inspiration from the dynamics of ball sports, we establish an optimization design paradigm for high-dynamic robotic arms by introducing angular momentum as performance metric. Based on this paradigm, we developed a 7-DOF robotic arm, KirinArm, and evaluated its performance in a badminton swinging task. KirinArm achieves a maximum end-effector speed of 10.1 m/s and a peak acceleration of 234.7 m/s<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, outperforming known commercial collaborative robotic arms. Notably, its racket tip reaches a speed of 31.3 m/s, equivalent to the level of an amateur badminton player and 48.45% of the performance of professional athletes under similar conditions. Comparative analysis with five other robotic arms, based on maximum angular momentum and acceleration metrics, highlights KirinArm's superior performance, even under increased dynamic loads.