Industrial robots in use today lack the total ability to perceive and interact with their environment. This limitation is a major obstacle confronting robotic systems developers. This work outlines an on-line process optimization strategy which allows a robot to work within a time-varying environment. After developing the kinematic model of the robot and its relationship to its environment, the process optimization strategy is simulated. The performance of the system is measured by using an index of performance and comparing the simulation results against a series of non-optimized models. The results indicate that on-line process optimization strategy significantly increases the performance of a robotic system operating in a time-varying environment.
