Automated design environment for serial industrial manipulators

Purpose - Resulting from the need for fast and insightful modeling combined with the drawbacks of available modeling environments, provides details of work developed on an automated modelling environment. Design/methodology/approach - An automated modeling environment for serial manipulators has been implemented in Matlab/Simulink. Findings - The manipulator configuration is defined by using a graphical user interface and the corresponding mathematical model is automatically generated. The model is exported to Matlab for analysis and control design, as well as to Simulink for simulation and verification purposes. Friction and stiction phenomena are included in the model. The simulation results can be visualized in standard plots and scopes as well as through virtual reality animations. Practical implications - The modeling environment has been used in the design of a control system for a seven-degree-of-freedom manipulator in a tunnel-boring machine. Originality/value - Information on the implementation of an automated modelling environment to facilitate the simultaneous design of the configuration and the corresponding control system of serial manipulators.