Dynamic Analysis and Forces

Introduction: For accelerating a mass(m), we need to exert a force on it. Similarly, to

cause an angular acceleration in a rotating body, a torque must be exerted on it (Figure
4.1), as:

To accelerate a robot’s links, it is necessary to have actuators

capable of exerting large enough forces and torques on the
links and joints to move them at a desired acceleration and
velocity.
In general, techniques such as Newtonian mechanics can be used to find the dynamic equations for
robots. However, due to the fact that robots are 3-D and multi-DOF mechanisms with distributed
masses, it is very difficult to use Newtonian mechanics. Instead, we may use other techniques such as
Lagrangian mechanics, which is based on energy terms only, and therefore, in many cases, easier to
use. Although Newtonian mechanics and other techniques can be used for this derivation, most
references are based on Lagrangian mechanics.

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 1

Lagrangian mechanics
Lagrangian mechanics is based on the differentiation of the energy terms with respect to
the system’s variables and time. Lagrangian is defined as:

where (L) is the Lagrangian, (K) is the kinetic energy of the system, and (P) is the potential
energy of the system. Then:

where (Fi )is the summation of all external forces for a linear motion,(Ti) is the summation of
all external torques for a rotational motion, and (θi) and (xi) are system variables. As a result,
in order to get the equations of motion, we need to derive energy equations for the
system and then differentiate the Lagrangian according to Equations

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 2

 Example
Derive the force-acceleration relationship for the 1-DOF system ( schematic of a simple cart-spring system )
shown below, using both the Lagrangian mechanics as well as the Newtonian mechanics. Assume the
wheels have negligible inertia.
Solution: The x-axis denotes the motion of the cart and is
used as the only variable in this system. Since this is a 1-
DOF system, there will be only one equation describing
the linear motion.

The derivatives of the Lagrangian are:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 3

Therefore, the equation of motion for the cart will be:

To solve the problem with Newtonian mechanics, we will draw the free-body diagram of the cart (Figure
below) and solve for forces as follows:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 4

 Example 2
Using the Lagrangian method, derive the equations of motion for the 2-DOF robot arm, as shown in
Figure below. The center of mass for each link is at the center of the link. The moments of inertia are I1
and I2.
Solution: First, we calculate the velocity of the center of mass of link 2 by
differentiating its position:

Therefore, the total velocity of the center of mass of link 2 is

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 5

 The total kinetic energy of the system is the sum of the kinetic energies of links 1 and 2.

Substituting Equation The value of (VD ) into the Equation of (K) and regrouping, we
get:

The potential energy of the system is the sum of the potential energies of the two links:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 6

 The Lagrangian for the two-link robot arm will be:

Taking the derivatives of the Lagrangian and substituting the terms into the torque Equation (T i)

will yield the following two equations of motion:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 7

These torque Equations can be written in matrix form as:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 8

Example: write the dynamic equation for the SCARA robot with the configuration below

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 9

Lagrangian equation of second order has the following expression

Where:
QK -generalized forces (force F or torque T)
qk -generalized coordinates (displacement d or angle )
L=(Ke –P)- Lagrange function
K = 1, 2, 3, .., n
Ke- kinetic energy
P - Potential energy
For SCARA robot of the figure in the previous slide, kinetic and
potential energies can be written as:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 10

 + ሾ 𝐽2 + 𝑚2 (𝑟22 + 𝐿1 𝑟2 𝑐2 )ሿ𝜃ሶ1 𝜃ሶ2

¿ ¿

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 11

So, Lagrange function is:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 12

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 13
Then torques exerted on the robot joints can be derived as:

where M denotes the inertia, C, B expresses the Coriolis and

centripetal forces respectively, and G is the gravity vector:

03/01/2024 Prepared By Prof. Mahdi Alshamasin 14