Motions with minimal base reactions for redundant manipulators

Abstract

This article presents a method for obtaining globally optimal motions with minimal base reactions for a redundant mechanical manipulator. The forces transmitted to the supporting base of a manipulator are desired to be small so as to reduce the stresses and the magnitude of vibration in the supporting structure. Making use of Euler-Lagrange equations and a "forward" and "reverse" iterative procedure, the present formulation reduces a problem of globally optimal motion to an optimization problem with single or multiple variables, depending on the degrees of redundancy of the manipulator. Other methods based on local resolution of redundancy are not feasible as they could lead to unstable manipulator motions. An example for a planar 3R manipulator is presented. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.