Scientists reduce energy consumption by robots

Scientists have found a way to significantly reduce the power consumption of robots. By controlling robot joints more efficiently, power consumption can theoretically be reduced by about 40 percent.

The method was devised by the University of the Basque Country, which published the findings in the professional journal Control Engineering Practice. According to the scientists, a new algorithm could make motors used to generate robot movements work significantly more efficiently.

Normally, commands are passed to the motion motor discretely and sequentially, following them one by one with a small pause in between. With the method of the Basque scientists, the movement motor also includes the previous command in the final execution when a new command is given. This principle would be particularly useful for robotic joints, which should have some degree of flexibility.

Experiments in a laboratory environment show that the power consumption of robots can be reduced by about 40 percent if the algorithm developed by the Basque scientists is used. In practice, the ultimate power saving depends on which movements the robot has to perform. The new method of controlling robots can make it cheaper to use.