Assessing the accuracy and efficiency of kinematic analysis tools for six-DOF industrial manipulators: The KUKA robot case study

Accuracy is an important factor to consider when evaluating the performance of a manipulator. The accuracy of a manipulator is determined by its ability to accurately move and position objects in a precise manner. This research paper aims to evaluate the performance of different methods for the kinematic analysis of manipulators. The study employs four distinct techniques, namely mathematical modeling using the closed form solutions method, roboanalyzer, Peter Corke toolbox, and particle swarm optimization, to perform kinematic analysis for manipulators. The KUKA industrial manipulator is used as an illustrative case study in this research due to its widespread use in various industrial applications in addition to its high precision and stability. Its wide usage in the industry makes the results of this research highly relevant and allows for a thorough evaluation of the performance of the different methods being studied. Furthermore, understanding the kinematic analysis of the manipulator can also help in improving the performance and increasing the efficiency of the robot in different tasks. This paper conducts a comparison of the accuracy of the four methods, and the results indicate that particle swarm optimization is the most accurate method. The RoboAnalyzer approach achieved the fastest execution time.