Integrated Framework for Virtual Prototyping of an Autonomous Mobile Cobot Using Computer-Aided Design and Multibody modelling

In the modern industrial and robotics landscape, the demand for customized, high-performance solutions is increasing, posing challenges in reducing design and development times while ensuring product quality. Traditional approaches relying on physical prototypes are expensive, time-consuming, and often inadequate for addressing the growing system complexity. Virtual Prototyping (VP) offers an alternative, enabling analysis, simulation, and optimization of product performance in a virtual environment before physical implementation. This paper focuses on collaborative robotics, where different tools can effectively simulate specific aspects of robotic system design. However, a lack of an integrated framework that seamlessly combines Computer-Aided Design, multibody modelling, and requirement verification still represents a gap. To address this, a Virtual Prototyping framework for robotic system design and verification is proposed. It begins with system requirements elicitation to ensure that the virtual models are fully aligned with the stakeholder needs. By focusing on the components and interactions required to verify the defined requirements, the approach allows consistency and avoids unnecessary complexity. CAD models support visualization and analysis of physical configurations, while multibody modelling enables simulations to verify functional requirements. A case study demonstrates the framework’s effectiveness through the development of an Autonomous Mobile Cobot by integrating two pre-existing robotic systems. The approach ensures requirement coherence while significantly reducing development time and cost.