Automatic optimization of industrial robotic workstations for sustainable energy consumption

Abstract

Industrial robotic workstations contribute substantially to the total energy demand of modern manufacturing, yet most existing energy-saving approaches focus on modifying robot trajectories, motion parameters, or the position of the robot’s base. This paper proposes a novel methodology for the automatic optimization of the spatial placement of a fixed technological trajectory within the robot workspace, without altering the task itself. The method combines pre-simulation filtering of infeasible configurations, large-scale energy simulation in ABB RobotStudio, and real measurement using a dual acquisition system consisting of the robot’s controller and an external power meter. A digital twin of the workstation is used to systematically evaluate thousands of candidate positions of a standardized trajectory. Experimental validation on an ABB IRB 1600–10/1.2 confirms a 23.4% difference in total energy consumption between two workspace configurations selected from the simulation study. The non-optimal configuration exhibits higher current draw, greater power variability, and a more intensive warm-up phase, indicating increased mechanical loading arising purely from geometric placement. By providing a scalable, trajectory-preserving approach grounded in digital-twin analysis and IoT-based measurement, this work establishes a data foundation for future AI-driven predictive and adaptive energy optimization in smart manufacturing environments.