Robotics Kinematics and Dynamics/Serial Manipulator Position Kinematics 1

Robotics Kinematics and Dynamics/Serial

Manipulator Position Kinematics
Forward Position Kinematics
The forward position kinematics problem can be stated as follows: given the different joint angles, what is the the
position of the end-effector? With the previous sections in mind, the answer is rather simple: construct the different
transformation matrices and combine them in the right way, the result being , where is the base frame of
the robot manipulator.

Solution
Suppose the mutual orientation matrices between adjacent links are known. (As the fixed parameters of each link are
known, and the joint angles are a given to the problem, these can be calculated. One possible way to do this would be
to make use of the Denavit-Hartenberg convention.) The transformation that relates the last and first frames in a
serial manipulator arm, and thus, the solution to the forward kinematics problem, is then represented by the
compound homogeneous transformation matrix. The axes are moving, thus, the compound homogeneous
transformation matrix is found by premultiplying the individual transformation matrices:

Examples

The Planar Three-Link Manipulator

The equations below use 3 × 3 pose matrices, as this is just a

2-dimensional case (cf. the figure on the right).
The pose of the first link, relative to the reference frame, is given by
(recall the elementary rotation about the z-axis from the previous
section):

The pose of the second link, relative to the first link, is given by:

A planar three link manipulator. Each -axis

This corresponds to a rotation by an angle and a translation by a lies along the th link. Each -axis lies
distance , where is the length of the first link. perpendicular to the corresponding -axis in

The pose of the third link, relative to the second link, is given by: such a way that a positive corresponds with a
rotation from to .

The pose of the end effector, relative to the third link, is given by:
Robotics Kinematics and Dynamics/Serial Manipulator Position Kinematics 2

The solution to the forward kinematics problem is then:

Hence:

The resulting kinematic equations are:

Inverse Position Kinematics

The inverse kinematics problem is the opposite of the forward kinematics problem and can be summarized as
follows: given the desired position of the end effector, what combinations of the joint angles can be used to achieve
this position?
Two types of solutions can be considered: a closed-form solution and a
numerical solution. Closed-form or analytical solutions are sets of
equations that fully describe the connection between the end-effector
position and the joint angles. Numerical solutions are found through
the use of numerical algorithms, and can exist even when no
closed-form solution is available. There may also be multiple solutions,
or no solution at all.

Example: Planar Three-Link Manipulator

The inverse kinematics problem for this 2D manipulator can quite
easily be solved algebraically.
From the earlier results (for simplicity, the displacement over the
distance shall be omitted here):
An example of two different solutions for the
inverse kinematics problem leading to the same
end-effector position and orientation.

Now assume a given end-effector orientation in the following form:

Robotics Kinematics and Dynamics/Serial Manipulator Position Kinematics 3

Equating the two previous expressions results in:

As:

squaring both the expressions for and and adding them, leads to:

Solving for leads to:

while equals:

,
and, finally, :

Note: The choice of the sign for corresponds with one of the two solutions in the figure above.
The expressions for and may now be solved for . In order to do so, write them like this:

where , and .
Let:

Then:

Applying these to the above equations for and :

or:

Thus:

Hence:

Note: If , actually becomes arbitrary.

Robotics Kinematics and Dynamics/Serial Manipulator Position Kinematics 4

may now be solved from the first two equations for and :
Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and Contributors

Robotics Kinematics and Dynamics/Serial Manipulator Position Kinematics  Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?oldid=1574629  Contributors: Adrignola, Jan Boddez

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Planar-three-link-manipulator.svg  Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Planar-three-link-manipulator.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Jan Boddez
Image:Inverse-kinematics-multiple-solutions.svg  Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Inverse-kinematics-multiple-solutions.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Jan
Boddez

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