The challenge is to keep or increase the robot performance, despite the previously mentioned problems. The model-based control used today must therefore be further refined, for example to make it possible to adapt model parameters to the robot individuals and to take care of more complex robot dynamics. Today the robot arm control is based only on motor angle measurements and the control must rely on accurate dynamic models to control the arms of the robot. In applications with requirements on high robot control performance it will also be necessary to increase accuracy and robustness by introducing additional sensors in the arm system of the robot.
Low-cost robots is not enough, the manufacturer must also guarantee a low life cycle cost. Improved diagnosis is then very important in order to be able to plan maintenance without disturbing the production. Accurate robot models are also needed for reliable diagnosis and the problems with increasing model complexity and larger model variations must be handled in the diagnosis case as well. Additional sensors will open up for improved tracking accuracy but also for more precise diagnosis functions.