Offline robot dynamic identification methods are mostly based on the use of the inverse dynamic model, which is linear with respect to the dynamic parameters. This model is sampled while the robot is tracking reference trajectories that excite the system dynamics. This allows using linear least-squares techniques to estimate the parameters. The efficiency of this method has been proved through the experimental identification of many prototypes and industrial robots. However, this method requires the joint force/torque and position measurements and the estimate of the joint velocity and acceleration, through the bandpass filtering of the joint position at high sampling rates. The proposed new method called DIDIM requires only the joint force/torque measurement, which avoids the calculation of the velocity and acceleration by bandpass filtering of the measured position. It is a closed-loop output error method where the usual joint position output is replaced by the joint force/torque. It is based on a closed-loop simulation of the robot using the direct dynamic model, the same structure of the control law, and the same reference trajectory for both the actual and the simulated robot. The optimal parameters minimize the 2-norm of the error between the actual force/torque and the simulated force/torque. This is a nonlinear least-squares problem which is dramatically simplified using the inverse dynamic model to obtain an analytical expression of the simulated force/torque, linear in the parameters. A validation experiment on a two degree-of-freedom direct drive rigid robot shows that the new method is efficient.

This paper deals with the important topic of industrial robot identification. The usual identification method is based on the inverse dynamic identification model and the least squares technique. This method has been successfully applied on several industrial robots. Good results can be obtained, provided a well tuned derivative band-pass filtering of joint positions is used to calculate the joint velocities and accelerations. However, one cannot be sure whether or not the band-pass filtering is well tuned. An alternative is the instrumental variable (IV) method, which is robust to data filtering and is statistically optimal. In this paper, a generic IV approach suitable for robot identification is proposed. The instrument set is the inverse dynamic model built from simulated data calculated from simulation of the direct dynamic model. The simulation is based on previous estimates and assumes the same reference trajectories and the same control structure for both actual and simulated robots. Finally, gains of the simulated controller are updated according to IV estimates to obtain a valid instrument set at each step of the algorithm. The proposed approach validates the inverse and direct dynamic models simultaneously, is not sensitive to initial conditions, and converges rapidly. Experimental results obtained on a six-degrees-of-freedom industrial robot show the effectiveness of this approach: 60 dynamic parameters are identified in three iterations.

This work aims at reviewing, analyzing and comparing a range of state-of-the-art approaches to inertial parameter identification in the context of robotics. We introduce “BIRDy (Benchmark for Identification of Robot Dynamics)”, an open-source Matlab toolbox, allowing a systematic and formal performance assessment of the considered identification algorithms on either simulated or real serial robot manipulators. Seventeen of the most widely used approaches found in the scientific literature are implemented and compared to each other, namely: the Inverse Dynamic Identification Model with Ordinary, Weighted, Iteratively Reweighted and Total Least-Squares (IDIM-OLS, -WLS, -IRLS, -TLS); the Instrumental Variables method (IDIM-IV), the Maximum Likelihood (ML) method; the Direct and Inverse Dynamic Identification Model approach (DIDIM); the Closed-Loop Output Error (CLOE) method; the Closed-Loop Input Error (CLIE) method; the Direct Dynamic Identification Model with Nonlinear Kalman Filtering (DDIM-NKF), the Adaline Neural Network (AdaNN), the Hopfield-Tank Recurrent Neural Network (HTRNN) and eventually a set of Physically Consistent (PC-) methods allowing the enforcement of parameter physicality using Semi-Definite Programming, namely the PC-IDIM-OLS, -WLS, -IRLS, PC-IDIM-IV, and PC-DIDIM. BIRDy is robot-agnostic and features a complete inertial parameter identification pipeline, from the generation of symbolic kinematic and dynamic models to the identification process itself. This includes functionalities for excitation trajectory computation as well as the collection and pre-processing of experiment data. In this work, the proposed methods are first evaluated in simulation, following a Monte Carlo scheme on models of the 6-DoF TX40 and RV2SQ industrial manipulators, before being tested on the real robot platforms. The robustness, precision, computational efficiency and context of application the different methods are investigated and discussed.

This paper addresses the important topic of electro-mechanical systems identification with an application in robotics. The standard inverse dynamic identification model with least squares (IDIM-LS) method of identifying models for robotic systems is based on the use of a continuous-time inverse dynamic model whose parameters are identified from experimental data by linear LS estimation. The paper describes a new alternative but related approach that exploits the state-dependent parameter (SDP) method of nonlinear model estimation and compares its performance with that of IDIM-LS. The SDP method is a two-stage identification procedure able to identify the presence and graphical shape of nonlinearities in dynamic system models with a minimum of a priori assumptions. The performance of the SDP method is evaluated on two electro-mechanical systems: the electro-mechanical positioning system and the second link of the TX40 robot. The experimental results demonstrate how SDP identification helps to avoid over-reliance on prior conceptions about the nature of the nonlinear characteristics and correct any deficiencies in this regard. Finally, a simulation study shows how the resulting SDP model is able to facilitate nonlinear control system design using linear-like design procedures.

This paper deals with the dynamic identification of the Kuka LightWeight Robot LWR4+. Although this robot is widely used for research purposes by many laboratories, there is not yet a published dynamic model available for model based control or simulation. Because Kuka does not give any information about the dynamic parameters of the robot we propose to identify 2 sets of parameters using the usual off-line identification method which is based on the Inverse Dynamic Identification Model and linear Least Squares technique (IDIM-LS). The first set is obtained by the actual dynamic parameters of links and joints (inertia, gravity and friction parameters) which are identified from motor torques and motor positions data. The second set is obtained by the Kuka's inertial parameters of links, implemented in the controller for model-based control. This is a reverse engineering procedure which recovers the confidential manufacturer's data. The link parameters are estimated using the IDIM-LS method with the sampled data of the inertia matrix and the gravity torques computed by the controller. To complete the reverse engineering procedure we also identify the joint stiffness parameters used by Kuka to estimate the joint link side position using the joint torque sensors and motor positions data. A Comparison between the actual dynamic parameters and the Kuka's parameters allow concluding to a reliable data sheet. This is a strong and very useful result for future work of the scientific community on this very popular robot.