Patent ID: 7973508

Claim:
A method for monitoring and diagnosing a robot mechanism comprising the steps of: storing known power drawing robot arm link characteristic pulley or gear ratios for connected mechanical arm links, to comprise a known set of initial robot arm time and position datum; mapping the gear ratio to corresponding resonant frequencies of the mechanical link and associated servo; digitizing and storing servo datum initial data time histories and out-of-limit frequency bands which when exceeded trigger signal perturbation origination identification of mapped gear ratio resonances; performing a time-frequency domain transform on signal to obtain normal base signal frequency content; continuously monitoring servo signal for raised pre-set action triggers comprising: receiving and digitizing known servo signals containing frequency content, comparing signal frequency content from a time-frequency domain transform on monitored signal, matching out-of-limit amplitude frequency content to any stored physical component resonant frequencies from gear ratio mappings, and raising any found matches as identified out of band acting component(s), whereby mechanical components having resonant frequencies based on power transmission characteristics in the robot components affecting current, voltage, position or torque signal are used for processing signal from matching resonant frequencies to identify link location of mechanical load deviances.