Advances in Robot Kinematics: Analysis and Control

The contributions in this book were presented at the sixth international symposium on Advances in Robot Kinematics organised in June/July 1998 in Strobl/Salzburg in Austria. The preceding symposia of the series took place in Ljubljana (1988), Linz (1990), Ferrara (1992), Ljubljana (1994), and Piran (1996). Ever since its first event, ARK has attracted the most outstanding authors in the area and managed to create a perfect combination of professionalism and friendly athmosphere. We are glad to observe that, in spite of a strong competition of many international conferences and meetings, ARK is continuing to grow in terms of the number of participants and in terms of its scientific impact. In its ten years, ARK has contributed to develop a remarkable scientific community in the area of robot kinematics. The last four symposia were organised under the patronage of the International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms -IFToMM. interest to researchers, doctoral students and teachers, The book is of engineers and mathematicians specialising in kinematics of robots and mechanisms, mathematical modelling, simulation, design, and control of robots. It is divided into sections that were found as the prevalent areas of the contemporary kinematics research. As it can easily be noticed, an important part of the book is dedicated to various aspects of the kinematics of parallel mechanisms that persist to be one of the most attractive areas of research in robot kinematics.

Contenu

1. Plenary.- The Stewart-Gough platform of general geometry can have 40 real postures.- Parallel arrays of binary actuators.- 2. Kinematics of Parallel Robots.- A study on the kinematics of a class of parallel manipulators.- Determination of the presence of singularities in 6D workspace of a Gough parallel manipulator.- A translational 3-dof parallel manipulator.- Inverse kinematics of a planar manipulator with holonomic higher pairs.- N-position synthesis of parallel planar RPR platforms.- Dual expansion of an optimal in-parallel spherical platform device into a spatial one.- Kinematics and force analysis of a 6 d.o.f. parallel mechanism with elastic joints.- Inverse kinematics for an underconstrained cable suspension manipulator.- Workspace, stiffness, singularities and classification of tendon-driven Stewart platforms.- 3. Direct Analysis and Design of Parallel Robots.- Workspace and assembly modes in fully-parallel manipulators: a descriptive study.- The on-line direct kinematics of parallel manipulators under joint-sensor redundancy.- Forward kinematics of a 6-6 fully-parallel manipulator with congruent base and platform.- Forward displacement analysis of a three-legged four-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator.- Double circular-triangular six-degrees-of-freedom parallel robot.- A new parallel mechanism to use for cutting convex glass panels.- Geometric modelling of general parallel mechanisms for calibration purposes.- 4. Control and Design.- On the mass center of articulated chains.- A spatial algebra approach to kinematic control of dual-arm systems.- Automatic generation of error models of the kinematics of robots.- Samos: A Pythagorean solution for omni-directional underwater vehicles.- Predicting the slop of in-series/parallel manipulators caused by joint clearances.- Kinematics of a split-equator symmetrically actuated double pointing system used in a robotic wrist.- An analytical design of telescopic manipulator arms for prescribed workspace.- Modular kinematics of planar mechanisms with prismatic pairs and flexible links.- 5. Basic Kinematics, Application of Screw Theory.- Geometry in mechanics.- The kinematics of Röschel polyhedra.- A remarkable overconstrained spherical motion.- Analytical kinematics of overconstrained 20-link 24R mechanism: Branches with one, two and three degrees of freedom.- An investigation of a special motion of an octahedron manipulator using screw theory.- Linear systems of tan-screws for finite displacement of a rigid body with symmetries.- The Jacobian analysis of a parallel manipulator using reciprocal screws.- On compounding three successive finite displacement screws.- Unified kinetostatics for serial, parallel and mobile robots.- 6. Special Methods in Kinematic Analysis.- Applications of Fourier methods on the motion group in robot kinematics.- A geometric approach to second and higher order kinematic analysis.- Inverse kinematics of arbitrary robotic manipulators using genetic algorithms.- An algorithm for solving the inverse kinematics of a 6R serial manipulator using dual quaternions and Grassmannians.- An algorithm for the solution of inverse kinematics problems based on an interval method.- Approximation in line space applications in robot kinematics and surface reconstruction.- Rotation minimizing spherical motions.- 7. Isotropy versus Singularity.- Redundancy-resolution algorithms for isotropic robots.- Robot isotropy: A reassessment.- Architecture singular parallel manipulators.- Geometry & architecturally shaky platforms.- Characterisation of architecturally shakyplatforms.- Singularity consistent inverse kinematics by enhancing the Jacobian transpose.- A singularity classification for closed chains.- Coordination of redundant articulatory parameters near a singularity in the vocal mechanism.- Jacobian of a flexible manipulator undergoing large elastic displacements.- 8. Biorobotics.- Compensation of geometric and elastic deflection errors in large manipulators based on experimental measurements: application to a high accuracy medical manipulator.- Dynamic models for haptic rendering systems.- Determination of singularities and self-motion of a 7-dof anthropomorphic manipulator.- Kinematic stability in quadrupedal locomotion.- Kinematics of the human forearms pro- and supination.- The human lower limb system during swing phase of gait A flexible mechanism with optimized actuators.- The self motion of an anthropomorphic manipulator.- Author Index.