Structural Analysis of ABS Plastic Framework of an Autonomous Mobile Robot Using ANSYS

Abstract

The use of structural calculation software based on finite-element analysis is nowadays a common practice when designing products made from different materials. One of such software is ANSYS. In order to make adequate prediction of the service behavior of plastic components, it is necessary to carry out appropriate analysis when working with ANSYS. Structural analysis is a general term used to describe analyses where the results quantities include stresses and strains. It uses many methods to determine the stresses and strains in materials and structures subjected to forces. In this paper, a structural analysis is carried out for the frame members of the autonomous mobile robot BNRT-MOB-44. These frame members were originally made of aluminum. However, the design is to replace them with 3d printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic members. The approach in the analysis contains drawing the robot and each framework members using a 3d modeling software known as SolidWorks, determining the loading on each framework member, and analyzing each member on ANSYS. The output of this research is basically finding the stress and strain on each of the modified structural frames of the mobile robot. The results of each cases are weighed against the standards of safety.