Impact of Link Length Manufacturing Errors on the Positioning Accuracy of Industrial Robots

Industrial robots are increasingly playing a vital and indispensable role in modern manufacturing activities. Their accuracy continues to attract the attention of designers and manufacturers aiming to create optimal machinery in terms of both quality and economic efficiency. This paper presents a study investigating the influence of link dimension errors on the positioning accuracy of robotic arms. The relationship between these two factors is established based on the robot kinematics problem. All possible error scenarios within the permissible tolerance limits of each link are considered. A specialized software developed by the authors is used to process and display the relevant data. Specific illustrations are conducted on two six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) robots from ABB and Kuka. The survey results highlight the extent to which errors in different links affect the positioning accuracy of the end-effector. Notably, the group of errors with the most significant impact are those related to links simulating the key dimensions of a human worker. This finding provides valuable insights for robot designers and manufacturers.