Publication

A distance geometry approach to the singularity analysis of 3R robots

Journal Article (2015)

Journal

Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics

Pages

1-11

Volume

8

Number

1

Doc link

http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4029500

File

Download the digital copy of the doc pdf document

Abstract

This paper shows how the computation of the singularity locus of a 3R robot can be reduced to the analysis of the relative position of two coplanar ellipses. Since the relative position of two conics is a projective invariant, and the basic projective geometric invariants are determinants, it is not surprising that, using Distance Geometry, the computation of the singularity locus of a 3R robot can be fully expressed in terms of determinants. Geometric invariants have the benefit of simplifying symbolic manipulations. This paper shows how their use leads to a simpler characterization, compared to previous approaches, of the cusps and nodes in the singularity loci of 3R robots.

Categories

automation.

Author keywords

wrist-partitioned robots, 3R robots, cuspidal robots, singularities, cusps, nodes, distance geometry, coordinate-free formulations

Scientific reference

F. Thomas. A distance geometry approach to the singularity analysis of 3R robots. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 8(1): 1-11, 2015.