Some Considerations on the Self-Motion Curves of a Planar 3R Manipulator

In this article, we evaluate the self-motion curves of a 3R planar manipulator possessing one-degree-ofredundancy, different link lengths and joint limits. We demonstrate that one or two self-motion curves correspond to a given combination of values of primary task coordinates. Because of the manipulator’s mechanical restrictions, the self-motion can at one time be realized within one curve and the manipulator cannot switch to another curve without violating the constraints of the primary task. Partition of the self-motion domain into disconnected curves can disrupt the control process and thus decrease the ability of the manipulator to solve secondary tasks in the best possible way. We display and discuss the self-motion curves of this manipulator solving two different primary tasks

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

Automatic reconstruction of 3D human arm motion from a monocular image sequence

A model-based approach to reconstruction of 3D human arm motion from a monocular image sequence taken under orthographic projection is presented. The reconstruction is divided into two stages. First, a 2D shape model is used to track the arm silhouettes and second-order curves are used to model the arm based on an iteratively reweighted least square method. As a result, 2D stick figures are extracted. In the second stage, the stick figures are backprojected into the scene. 3D postures are reconstructed using the constraints of a 3D kinematic model of the human arm. The motion of the arm is then derived as a transition between the arm postures. Applications of these results are foreseen in the analysis of human motion patterns

Dal Mediterraneo alla Mitteleuropa, dall'arte alla scienza, dall'uomo al robot

La capacità di adattarsi alle tendenze e alle innovazioni, nonché di esprimere la propria identità in una moltitudine globalizzata, è diventata cruciale. Nell’ultimo decennio c'è stata una svolta notevole nelle nuove tecnologie che influenzano inattesi cambiamenti in connessione ai problemi economici, etici e sociologici. Affinché una comunità abbia successo nei prossimi anni, è importante padroneggiare almeno tre lingue principali: la lingua materna, il linguaggio informatico (inglese) e la lingua della creatività. “Creatività” significa penetrare negli spazi sconosciuti e inesplorati e quindi ha bisogno di condizioni formative specifiche, simili all'arcobaleno che appare istantaneamente per svanire subito dopo. Prospera in ambienti in cui abbondano conoscenza, diversità, volontà di scambio e cultura del progresso. L’obiettivo è di creare ambienti in cui nascano le idee più pazze e progressiste, tali da influenzarsi e incoraggiarsi a vicenda. Con l’avvento delle nuove tecnologie - tra le quali la robotica risulta predominante - che trasformeranno radicalmente i flussi della civiltà, la nostra comunità dovrà affrontare importanti sfide e opportunità

Advances in Robot Kinematics: Analysis and Design

International audienceThis book presents the most recent research advances in the theory, design, control and application of robot systems, which are intended for a variety of purposes such as manipulation, manufacturing, automation, surgery, locomotion and biomechanics. The issues addressed are fundamentally kinematic in nature, including synthesis, calibration, redundancy, force control, dexterity, inverse and forward kinematics, kinematic singularities, as well as over-constrained systems. Methods used include line geometry, quaternion algebra, screw algebra and linear algebra. These methods are applied to both parallel and serial multi-degree-of-freedom systems.The book includes 48 independently reviewed papers of researchers specialising in robot kinematics. The contributors are the most recognised scientists in this area. The papers have been subdivided into the following sections: Singularity analysis of parallel manipulators, Design of robots and mechanisms, Motion planning and mobility, Performance and properties of mechanisms, Measure and calibration, Kinematic analysis and workspace