Euler Angles

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 Composition of Three Rotations
d3
a3
b3 d2

b2 c3 θ
a2 d1
ψ
a1
φ c2

b1

AR A B C c1
D = RB × RC × RD

AR = Rot(x, ψ) × Rot(y, φ) × Rot(z, θ)

D

roll pitch yaw

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 Euler Angles
Any rotation can be
described by three Image from wikipedia

successive rotations about ξ3

linearly independent axes. 3 Euler angles

ξ2

3 × 3 rotation
matrix ξ1

Almost 1-1 transformation

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 X-Y-Z Euler Angles
d3
a3
b3 d2

b2 c3 θ
a2 d1
ψ
a1
φ c2

b1

AR A B C c1
D = RB × RC × RD

AR = Rot(x, ψ) × Rot(y, φ) × Rot(z, θ)

D

roll pitch yaw

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 Z-Y-Z Euler Angles

z Sequence of three rotations about body-

fixed axes
z ● Rot(z, φ)
y ● Rot(y, θ) Are these
linearly
Rot(z, ψ)
y ●
independent?
✓
y
Three Euler Angles
● φ, θ, and ψ
x ● Parameterize rotations

x x x
Note
● θ= 0 is a special (singular) case

R = Rot(z, φ) × Rot(y, θ) × Rot(z, ψ)

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 Determination of Euler Angles
R = Rot(z, φ) × Rot(y, θ) × Rot(z, ψ)
2 3
cos cos ✓ cos sin sin cos cos ✓ sin sin cos cos sin ✓
6 7
6 7
R=6
6 sin cos ✓ cos + cos sin sin cos ✓ sin + cos cos sin sin ✓ 7
7
4 5
sin ✓ cos sin ✓ sin cos ✓
2 3
R11 R12 R13
R31 = − sin θ cos ψ 6 7
6 7 R33 = cos θ
6 R21 R22 R23 7
R32 = sin θ sin ψ 6 7
4 5
R31 R32 R33 R13 = sin θ cos φ
R23 = sin θ sin φ

known rotation matrix

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 Determination of Euler Angles 2 3
cos cos ✓ cos sin sin cos cos ✓ sin sin cos cos sin ✓
If |R33 | < 1, 6
6
7
7
R=6
6 sin cos ✓ cos + cos sin sin cos ✓ sin + cos cos sin sin ✓ 7
7
θ = σ arccos(R33 ), σ = ±1 4 5
sin ✓ cos sin ✓ sin cos ✓
⎛R −R ⎞
ψ = a tan 2⎜ 32 , 31 ⎟
⎝ sin θ sin θ ⎠ Two sets of Euler
⎛R R ⎞
φ = a tan 2⎜ 23 , 13 ⎟ angles for every R for
⎝ sin θ sin θ ⎠ almost all R’s!
If R33 = 1,
2 3 f( + )
cos cos sin sin cos sin sin cos 0
6 7
6 7
R=6
6 cos sin + sin cos sin sin + cos cos 0 7
7
4 5
0 0 1

If R33 = -1, Infinite set of Euler

2 3
6
cos cos sin sin cos sin sin cos 0
7
Angles!
6 7
R=6
6 cos sin sin cos sin sin + cos cos 0 77
4 5
0 0 1 f( + ) 13
 Z-X-Y Euler Angles
Sequence of three rotations about body- z
fixed axes
● Rot(z, ψ)
● Rot(x, φ)
● Rot(y, θ)

x y

Verify 2 3
c c✓ s s s✓ c s c s✓ + c✓s s
R = 4c✓s + c s s✓ c c s s✓ c✓s c 5
c s✓ s c c✓

N. Michael, D. Mellinger, Q. Lindsey, V. Kumar, The GRASP Multiple Micro-UAV Testbed,

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, vol.17, no.3, pp.56-65, Sept. 2010
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What is the minimum number of
sets of Euler angles you need to
cover SO(3)?

SO(3) = R 2 R 3⇥3
| R R = RR = I
T T

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