Pose optimization in robotic machining using static and dynamic stiffness models

•A static and dynamic stiffness model are applied to the same industrial robot.•Pose optimizations are performed using each model to maximize stiffness for milling.•Milling experiments are performed for varying locations and cutting parameters.•Dynamic model optimizations are shown to reduce vibration due to resonance.•Static model optimizations perform comparably when the robot does not resonate. Industrial robots are typically not used for milling of hard materials due to their low stiffness compared to traditional machine tools. Due to milling being a five degree of freedom (dof) operation, a typical six dof serial manipulator introduces a redundant degree of freedom in the robot pose. This redundancy can be exploited to optimize the pose of the robot during milling to minimize force-induced deflections at the end-effector. Stiffness modeling and optimization techniques for industrial robots utilizing both static (no mass and damping terms) and dynamic (mass and damping terms included) models exist. This paper presents a comparative study of robot pose optimization using static and dynamic stiffness models for different cutting scenarios. Milling experiments show that while a dynamic model-based robot pose optimization yields significant improvement over a static model-based optimization for cutting conditions where the time varying cutting forces approach the robot's natural frequencies, a static model-based optimization is sufficient when the frequency content of the cutting forces are not close to the robot's natural frequencies.