Introduction to Robotics

Lecture 3
 Lecture Contents
Spatial Descriptions and Transformations

• Descriptions: positions, orientations and frames

• Mapping: Changing descriptions from frame to frame

 Central Topic
Problem
• Robotic manipulators, by definition,
implies that parts and tools will be
moving around in space by the
manipulator mechanism
• This requires representation of
positions and orientations of the
parts, tools and the mechanism
itself
Solution
• Mathematical tools for representing
position and orientation of
objects/frames in a 3D space
Coordinate System
Coordinate System
 Universe Coordinate System

• Assume, there is a Universe Coordinate System to which

everything can be referenced

• All positions and orientations will be described with respect to

the Universe Coordinate System or with respect to other
Cartesian Coordinate System which are( or could be) defined
relative to the Universe Coordinate System
 Description of a Position
• The location of any point
in space can be described
as a 3x1 position vector in
a reference coordinate
system
Coordinate system

Position Vector
 Description of a Position
• Vectors will be written with a leading superscript indicating
the coordinate system to which they are referenced, for
example AP

• This means that the components of AP have numerical values

which indicate distances along the axes of { A }

• Each of these distances along an axis can be thought of as the

result of projecting the vector onto the corresponding axis
 Description of an Orientation
• The orientation of a body is
described by attaching
coordinate system to the
body {B} and then defining
the relationship between
the body and the reference
{A} using the rotation
matrix

Position : AP
Orientation : AXB , AYB , A ZB
 Description of Orientation
• Thus, positions of points are described with vectors and
orientations of bodies are described with an attached
coordinate system
• One way to describe the body attached to the coordinate
system, {B}, is to write the unit vectors of its three principal
axes in terms of the coordinate system {A}
• The unit vectors giving the principal directions of
coordinate system {B} as
XB ,YB , ZB
• When written in terms of coordinate system {A}, they are
called as
AX AY A Z
B, B, B
 Rotation Matrix
• It is convenient to stack these three unit vectors together as
the columns of a 3X3 matrix, in the order

• The matrix is then called as rotation matrix, and because this

particular rotation matrix describes {B} relative to {A}, it is
named with the notation

Reference Frame

Body Frame
 Rotation Matrix
• In summary, a set of three vectors may be used to specify an
orientation

• For convenience, construct a 3X3 matrix that has these three

vectors as its columns

• Hence, whereas the position of a point is represented with a

vector, the orientation of a body is represented with a matrix

• The expressions for scalars rij can be computed by noting that

components of any vector are simply the projections of that
vector onto the unit directions of its reference frame and so
can be written as the dot product of a pair of unit vectors
 Rotation Matrix

AX = AR BX Rotation matrix describes {B}

B B
relative to {A}
1 0
AX = AR AY = AR
B B 0 B B 1
0 0

0 𝑋𝐵 . 𝑋𝐴
AZ = AR
B B 0 AX =
B 𝑋𝐵 . 𝑌𝐴
1 𝑋𝐵 . 𝑍𝐴
Components of XB in {A}
Rotation Matrix

BZ T
A
 Description of an Orientation
• Since the dot product of two unit vectors yields the cosine of
the angle between them, the components of rotation
matrices are often referred to as direction cosines

• The rows of the rotation matrix ARB are the unit vectors of {A}
expressed in {B}, that is

= B RT
A
 Description of an Orientation
• Hence, BAR the description of {A} relative to {B} is given by the
transpose of ABR , that is

• This means that the inverse of a rotation matrix is equal to its

transpose
 Description of an Orientation
Example – 1 ZA
YB
{A}

1 0 0
A 0 0 -1 ZB YA
BR =
0 1 0 {B}

XA
XB
Rotated frames – General Notation
 Description of a Frame
• The information needed to completely specify the
whereabouts of the manipulator hand is a position and an
orientation

• The point on the body whose position is described could be

chosen arbitrarily

• For convenience, however, the point whose position will be

described is chosen as the origin of the body – attached frame

• The situation of a position and an orientation pair arises so

often in robotics that an entity is defined for it called as frame
 Description of a Frame
• The frame is a set of four vectors giving position and
orientation information

• For example, one vector locates the fingertip position and

three more describe its orientation

• Equivalently, the description of a frame can be thought of as a

position vector and a rotation matrix

• Thus, frame is a coordinate system, where in addition to the

orientation, a position vector is given which locates its origin
relative to some other embedding frame
 Description of a Frame
• For example, frame {B} is described by ABR and
AP
BORG is the vector that locates the origin of
the frame {B} {B}
{A}

AP
A AP BORG
{B}={ BR BORG }

Rotation matrix
describing frame {B} The origin of frame
relative to frame {A} {B} relative to frame
{A}
 Description of a Frame
• There are three
frames shown along
with the universe
coordinate system

• Frame{A} and {B} are

known relative to
universe coordinate
system and frame {C}
is known relative to
frame {A}
 Description of a Frame
• A frame is depicted by 3
arrows representing unit
vectors defining the
principal axes of the frame

• An arrow representing a
vector is drawn from one
origin to another

• This vector represents the

position of origin at the
head of arrow in terms of
the frame at the tail of the
arrow
 Description of a Frame
• The direction of this
locating arrow tells us, for
example, that {C} is
known relative to {A} and
not vice versa

• In summary, frame can be

used as a description of
one coordinate system
relative to another
 Mappings
• Mappings refer to changing the description of a point(or vector) in space
from one frame to another

• The second frame has three possibilities in reference to first frame:

1. Second-frame is moved away from the first, the axes of both frames
remain parallel, respectively. This is a translation of the origin of the
second frame from the first frame in space

2. Second-frame is rotated with respect to the first; the origin of both the
frames is same. In robotics this referred as changing the orientation

3. Second-frame is rotated with respect to the first and moved away from
it, that is, the second frame is translated and its orientation is also
changed
 Mappings: Translated Frames
• In this figure, position is
defined by the vector BP
with respect to frame {B}

• Now, need to express this

point in space in terms of
frame {A} has the same
orientation as frame {B}

• In this case, frame {B}

differs from frame {A} only
by a translation which is
given by APBORG , a vector
which locates origin of Changing the position description of a point P
frame {B} relative to frame
{A}
 Mappings: Translated Frames
• Note, that only in special case of equivalent orientations may we
add vectors which are defined in terms of different frames

• This idea of mapping is important concept, quantity itself ( here a

point in space) is not changed; only description is changed

• Point described by BP is not translated, but remains the same, and

instead a new description of the same point was computed, but
now with respect to frame {A}

• The vector APBORG defines this mapping, since all information

needed to perform the change in description is contained in APBORG
(along with the knowledge that the frames has equivalent
orientation)
 Mappings: Rotated Frames
• The rotation matrix describes frame {B} relative to frame {A},
it was named with ABR

• By definition, the columns of a rotation matrix all have unit

magnitude, and further, these unit vectors are orthogonal

• A consequence of this is:

• Therefore, since the columns of ABR are the unit vectors of {B}
written in {A}, then rows of ABR are the unit vectors of {A}
written in {B}
 Mappings: Rotated Frames
• If P is given in {B}: BP

AP = BP

BP = BAR AP
 Mappings: Rotated Frames
• Figure shows a frame {B} which is
rotated relative to frame {A} about Z-
axis by 30 degrees

• Here Z is pointing out of the page

• Writing the unit vectors of {B} in terms

of {A} and stacking them as the
columns of the rotation matrix obtain:

• A R (
B Z θ)=
 Mappings: Rotated Frames

• Here, ABR acts as a mapping that is used to describe BP relative to frame

{A} , AP

• Important to remember is that, viewed as a mapping, the original vector P

is not changed in space

• Rather, a new description of the vector is computed relative to another

frame
•
 Mappings: General transform
• Here, the origin of frame {B} is not coincident with that of
frame {A} but has a general vector offset

• The vector that locates {B}’s origin is called APBORG

• Also {B} is rotated with respect to {A} as described by ABR

• Given, BP we wish to compute AP

 Mappings: General Transform
• First change BP to its description
relative to an intermediate frame
that has the same orientation as {A},
but whose origin is coincident with
the origin of {B}

• This is done by multiplying by ABR

• Then account for the translation

between origins by simple vector
addition and obtain: