CH-2 Robot Mechanisms

Definition of Kinematics
a pure geometrical description of motion by means of position, orientation,
velocity, and acceleration. Forces and torques causing the motion are not
considered
There are two kinematics
o Forward Kinematics (angles to position)
What you are given: The length of each link and the angle of each joint
What you can find: The position of any point (i.e. it’s (x, y, z) coordinate
o Inverse Kinematics (position to angles)
What you are given: The length of each link, The position of some point on the
robot
What you can find: The angles of each joint needed to obtain that position
Cont..
Review on Manipulators
Homogeneous Representation
• A point in space
 Review on DOF

• Grübler’s Formula to find degrees of freedom

M is the degrees of freedom

n is the number of moving links
j is the number of joints
fi is the degrees of freedom of the ith joint
Grübler’s Formula – Simple Open Chain
Orientation Représentation Or Euler
Angles
Description of Yaw, Pitch, Roll
•
Robot Links and Joints
What is a robotic arm?
 A robotic arm, which is usually
reprogrammable, is a type of
mechanical arm which functions
similar to a human arm
 It is a system made of links and joints
with multiple degrees of freedom
(DOF) with a tool at the end to
perform various tasks like gripping,
picking and placing objects, etc.
Joints, also called axes, are
the movable components of
the robotic arm that result
in relative motion between
adjacent links
 The numbering of the
joints start from 1 to n
•Links, also called as arms, are the
rigid structures connecting the
joints
• The ground/base is also called the
base link and considered as link 0
• The no. of links will be 0 to n-1
where n = no. of joints
Denavit-Hartenberg Convention
Number the joints from 1 to n starting with the base and ending with
the end-effector.
Establish the base coordinate system. Establish a right-handed
orthonormal coordinate system at the supporting base with Zi axis
lying along the axis of motion of joint i.
Establish joint axis.
Establish Xi axis. Establish or along the common normal between the
Zi-1 & Zi axes when they are parallel
Establish Yi axis. Assign to complete the right-handed coordinate
system.
Example I

• Find the link and joint parameters

Link and Joint Parameters
⚫ Joint angle : the angle of rotation from the Xi-1 axis to the Xi axis
about the Zi-1 axis. It is the joint variable if joint i is rotary.
⚫ Joint distance : the distance from the origin of the (i-1) coordinate
system to the intersection of the Zi-1 axis and the Xi axis along the Zi-1
axis. It is the joint variable if joint i is prismatic.
⚫ Link length : the distance from the intersection of the Zi-1 axis and
the Xi axis to the origin of the ith coordinate system along the Xi axis.
⚫ Link twist angle : the angle of rotation from the Zi-1 axis to the Zi axis
about the Xi axis.
Example II
Transformation between i-1 and i
Four successive elementary transformations are required to relate
the i-th coordinate frame to the (i-1)-th coordinate frame:
Rotate about the Zi-1 axis an angle of θi to align the X i-1 axis with the
X i axis
Translate along the Zi-1 axis a distance of di, to bring Xi-1 and Xi axes
into coincidence
Translate along the Xi axis a distance of ai to bring the two origins Oi-
1 and Oi as well as the X axis into coincidence.
Rotate about the Xi axis an angle of αi ( in the right handed sense), to
bring the two coordinates into coincidence
Cont…
• The position and orientation of the i-th frame coordinate can be
expressed in the (i-1)th frame by the following homogeneous
transformation matrix:
• Consider 3 cases for zi-1 and zi
Not-coplanar
Parallel
Intersect
1. zi-1 and zi are not-coplanar
 Common normal to axes is the “link” axis
 Intersection with zi is origin
 Usually, xi points from frame i-1 to i
• zi and zi-1 are parallel
Infinitely many common normal
Pick one to be the “link” axis
Origin is intersection of xi with zi
DH Example: “academic manipulator”

• 3 revolute joints - RRR Shown in home position

• DH Example: “academic manipulator”
Cont…
Cont…