14 research outputs found
Yet another approach to the Gough-Stewart platform forward kinematics
© 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The forward kinematics of the Gough-Stewart platform, and their simplified versions in which some leg endpoints coalesce, has been typically solved using variable elimination methods. In this paper, we cast doubts on whether this is the easiest way to solve the problem. We will see how the indirect approach in which the length of some extra virtual legs is first computed leads to important simplifications. In particular, we provide a procedure to solve 30 out of 34 possible topologies for a Gough-Stewart platform without variable elimination.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
The forward kinematics of doubly-planar Gough-Stewart platforms and the position analysis of strips of tetrahedra
The final publication is available at link.springer.comA strip of tetrahedra is a tetrahedron-tetrahedron truss where any tetrahedron has two neighbors except those in the extremes which have only one. The problem of finding all the possible lengths for an edge in the strip compatible with a given distance imposed between the strip end-points has been revealed of relevance due to the large number of possible applications. In this paper, this is applied to solve the forward kinematics of 6-6 Gough-Stewart platforms with planar base and moving platform, a problem which is known to have up to 40 solutions (20 if we do not consider mirror configurations with respect to the base as different solutions).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Distance geometry in active structures
The final publication is available at link.springer.comDistance constraints are an emerging formulation that offers intuitive geometrical interpretation of otherwise complex problems. The formulation can be applied in problems such as position and singularity analysis and path planning of mechanisms and structures. This paper reviews the recent advances in distance geometry, providing a unified view of these apparently disparate problems. This survey reviews algebraic and numerical techniques, and is, to the best of our knowledge, the first attempt to summarize the different approaches relating to distance-based formulations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
New geometric approaches to the analysis and design of Stewart-Gough platforms
In general, rearranging the legs of a Stewart-Gough platform, i.e., changing the locations of its leg attachments, modifies the platform singularity locus in a rather unexpected way. Nevertheless, some leg rearrangements have been recently found to leave singularities invariant. Identification of such rearrangements is useful not only for the kinematic analysis of the platforms, but also as a tool to redesign manipulators avoiding the implementation of multiple spherical joints, which are difficult to construct and have a small motion range. In this study, a summary of these singularity-invariant leg rearrangements is presented, and their practical implications are illustrated with several examples including well-known architectures.The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the Robotics group (SRG0155).Peer Reviewe
Closure polynomials for strips of tetrahedra
The final publication is available at link.springer.comA tetrahedral strip is a tetrahedron-tetrahedron truss where any tetrahedron has two neighbors except those in the extremes which have only one. Unless any of the tetrahedra degenerate, such a truss is rigid. In this case, if the distance between the strip endpoints is imposed, any rod length in the truss is constrained by all the others to attain discrete values. In this paper, it is shown how to characterize these values as the roots of a closure polynomial whose derivation requires surprisingly no other tools than elementary algebraic manipulations. As an application of this result, the forward kinematics of two parallel platforms with closure polynomials of degree 16 and 12 is straightforwardly solved.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Kinematics of line-plane subassemblies in Stewart platforms
Trabajo presentado al ICRA 2009 celebrado en Kobe (Japón) del 12 al 17 de mayo.When the attachments of five legs in a Stewart platform are collinear on one side and coplanar on the other, the platform is said to contain a line-plane subassembly. This paper is devoted to the kinematics analysis of this subassembly paying particular attention to the problem of moving the aforementioned attachments without altering the singularity locus of the platform. It is shown how this is always possible provided that some cross-ratios between lines - defined by points in the plane- are kept equal to other cross-ratios between points in the line. This result leads to two simple motion rules upon which complex changes in the location of the attachments can be performed. These rules have interesting practical consequences as they permit a designer to optimize aspects of a parallel robot containing the analyzed subassembly, such as its manipulability in a given region, without altering its singularity locus.This work was supported by the project 'Analysis and motion planning of complex robotic systems' (4802). This work has been partially supported
by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, under the I+D project DPI2007-60858.Peer Reviewe
Closure polynomials for strips of tetrahedra
The final publication is available at link.springer.comA tetrahedral strip is a tetrahedron-tetrahedron truss where any tetrahedron has two neighbors except those in the extremes which have only one. Unless any of the tetrahedra degenerate, such a truss is rigid. In this case, if the distance between the strip endpoints is imposed, any rod length in the truss is constrained by all the others to attain discrete values. In this paper, it is shown how to characterize these values as the roots of a closure polynomial whose derivation requires surprisingly no other tools than elementary algebraic manipulations. As an application of this result, the forward kinematics of two parallel platforms with closure polynomials of degree 16 and 12 is straightforwardly solved.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Distance-based formulations for the position analysis of kinematic chains
This thesis addresses the kinematic analysis of mechanisms, in particular, the position
analysis of kinematic chains, or linkages, that is, mechanisms with rigid bodies (links)
interconnected by kinematic pairs (joints). This problem, of completely geometrical
nature, consists in finding the feasible assembly modes that a kinematic chain can adopt.
An assembly mode is a possible relative transformation between the links of a kinematic
chain. When an assignment of positions and orientations is made for all links with
respect to a given reference frame, an assembly mode is called a configuration. The
methods reported in the literature for solving the position analysis of kinematic chains
can be classified as graphical, analytical, or numerical.
The graphical approaches are mostly geometrical and designed to solve particular
problems. The analytical and numerical methods deal, in general, with kinematic chains
of any topology and translate the original geometric problem into a system of kinematic analysis of all the Assur kinematic chains resulting from replacing some of its revolute
joints by slider joints. Thus, it is concluded that the polynomials of all fully-parallel
planar robots can be derived directly from that of the widely known 3-RPR robot. In
addition to these results, this thesis also presents an efficient procedure, based on distance
and oriented area constraints, and geometrical arguments, to trace coupler curves
of pin-jointed Gr¨ubler kinematic chains. All these techniques and results together are
contributions to theoretical kinematics of mechanisms, robot kinematics, and distance
plane geometry.
equations that defines the location of each link based, mainly, on independent loop
equations. In the analytical approaches, the system of kinematic equations is reduced
to a polynomial, known as the characteristic polynomial of the linkage, using different
elimination methods —e.g., Gr¨obner bases or resultant techniques. In the numerical
approaches, the system of kinematic equations is solved using, for instance, polynomial
continuation or interval-based procedures.
In any case, the use of independent loop equations to solve the position analysis
of kinematic chains, almost a standard in kinematics of mechanisms, has seldom been
questioned despite the resulting system of kinematic equations becomes quite involved
even for simple linkages. Moreover, stating the position analysis of kinematic chains
directly in terms of poses, with or without using independent loop equations, introduces
two major disadvantages: arbitrary reference frames has to be included, and all formulas
involve translations and rotations simultaneously. This thesis departs from this standard
approach by, instead of directly computing Cartesian locations, expressing the original
position problem as a system of distance-based constraints that are then solved using
analytical and numerical procedures adapted to their particularities.
In favor of developing the basics and theory of the proposed approach, this thesis
focuses on the study of the most fundamental planar kinematic chains, namely, Baranov
trusses, Assur kinematic chains, and pin-jointed Gr¨ubler kinematic chains. The results
obtained have shown that the novel developed techniques are promising tools for the
position analysis of kinematic chains and related problems. For example, using these
techniques, the characteristic polynomials of most of the cataloged Baranov trusses can
be obtained without relying on variable eliminations or trigonometric substitutions and
using no other tools than elementary algebra. An outcome in clear contrast with the
complex variable eliminations require when independent loop equations are used to tackle
the problem.
The impact of the above result is actually greater because it is shown that the
characteristic polynomial of a Baranov truss, derived using the proposed distance-based
techniques, contains all the necessary and sufficient information for solving the positionEsta tesis aborda el problema de análisis de posición de cadenas cinemáticas, mecanismos con cuerpos rígidos (enlaces)
interconectados por pares cinemáticos (articulaciones). Este problema, de naturaleza geométrica, consiste en encontrar los
modos de ensamblaje factibles que una cadena cinemática puede adoptar. Un modo de ensamblaje es una transformación
relativa posible entre los enlaces de una cadena cinemática. Los métodos reportados en la literatura para la solución del análisis
de posición de cadenas cinemáticas se pueden clasificar como gráficos, analíticos o numéricos.
Los enfoques gráficos son geométricos y se diseñan para resolver problemas particulares. Los métodos analíticos y numéricos
tratan con cadenas cinemáticas de cualquier topología y traducen el problema geométrico original en un sistema de ecuaciones
cinemáticas que define la ubicación de cada enlace, basado generalmente en ecuaciones de bucle independientes. En los
enfoques analíticos, el sistema de ecuaciones cinemáticas se reduce a un polinomio, conocido como el polinomio característico
de la cadena cinemática, utilizando diferentes métodos de eliminación. En los métodos numéricos, el sistema se resuelve
utilizando, por ejemplo, la continuación polinomial o procedimientos basados en intervalos.
En cualquier caso, el uso de ecuaciones de bucle independientes, un estándar en cinemática de mecanismos, rara vez ha sido
cuestionado a pesar de que el sistema resultante de ecuaciones es bastante complicado, incluso para cadenas simples. Por otra
parte, establecer el análisis de la posición de cadenas cinemáticas directamente en términos de poses, con o sin el uso de
ecuaciones de bucle independientes, presenta dos inconvenientes: sistemas de referencia arbitrarios deben ser introducidos, y
todas las fórmulas implican traslaciones y rotaciones de forma simultánea. Esta tesis se aparta de este enfoque estándar
expresando el problema de posición original como un sistema de restricciones basadas en distancias, en lugar de directamente
calcular posiciones cartesianas. Estas restricciones son posteriormente resueltas con procedimientos analíticos y numéricos
adaptados a sus particularidades.
Con el propósito de desarrollar los conceptos básicos y la teoría del enfoque propuesto, esta tesis se centra en el estudio de las
cadenas cinemáticas planas más fundamentales, a saber, estructuras de Baranov, cadenas cinemáticas de Assur, y cadenas
cinemáticas de Grübler. Los resultados obtenidos han demostrado que las técnicas desarrolladas son herramientas
prometedoras para el análisis de posición de cadenas cinemáticas y problemas relacionados. Por ejemplo, usando dichas
técnicas, los polinomios característicos de la mayoría de las estructuras de Baranov catalogadas se puede obtener sin realizar
eliminaciones de variables o sustituciones trigonométricas, y utilizando solo álgebra elemental. Un resultado en claro contraste
con las complejas eliminaciones de variables que se requieren cuando se utilizan ecuaciones de bucle independientes.
El impacto del resultado anterior es mayor porque se demuestra que el polinomio característico de una estructura de Baranov,
derivado con las técnicas propuestas, contiene toda la información necesaria y suficiente para resolver el análisis de posición de
las cadenas cinemáticas de Assur que resultan de la sustitución de algunas de sus articulaciones de revolución por
articulaciones prismáticas. De esta forma, se concluye que los polinomios de todos los robots planares totalmente paralelos se
pueden derivar directamente del polinomio característico del conocido robot 3-RPR. Adicionalmente, se presenta un
procedimiento eficaz, basado en restricciones de distancias y áreas orientadas, y argumentos geométricos, para trazar curvas
de acoplador de cadenas cinemáticas de Grübler. En conjunto, todas estas técnicas y resultados constituyen contribuciones a la
cinemática teórica de mecanismos, la cinemática de robots, y la geometría plana de distancias.
Barcelona 13
Advances in Robot Kinematics : Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Advances in Robot Kinematics
International audienceThe motion of mechanisms, kinematics, is one of the most fundamental aspect of robot design, analysis and control but is also relevant to other scientific domains such as biome- chanics, molecular biology, . . . . The series of books on Advances in Robot Kinematics (ARK) report the latest achievement in this field. ARK has a long history as the first book was published in 1991 and since then new issues have been published every 2 years. Each book is the follow-up of a single-track symposium in which the participants exchange their results and opinions in a meeting that bring together the best of world’s researchers and scientists together with young students. Since 1992 the ARK symposia have come under the patronage of the International Federation for the Promotion of Machine Science-IFToMM.This book is the 13th in the series and is the result of peer-review process intended to select the newest and most original achievements in this field. For the first time the articles of this symposium will be published in a green open-access archive to favor free dissemination of the results. However the book will also be o↵ered as a on-demand printed book.The papers proposed in this book show that robot kinematics is an exciting domain with an immense number of research challenges that go well beyond the field of robotics.The last symposium related with this book was organized by the French National Re- search Institute in Computer Science and Control Theory (INRIA) in Grasse, France