On Advances in Robot Kinematics

Citation

Rigelsford, J. (2004), "On Advances in Robot Kinematics", Industrial Robot, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 459-460. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2004.31.5.459.2

“On Advances in Robot Kinematics” presents the most recent research advances in the theory, design, control and application of robotic systems. It addresses a range of kinematic related subjects, including synthesis, calibration, redundancy, force control, dexterity, inverse and forward kinematics, kinematic singularities, and over‐constrained systems.

Chapter 1 addresses Methods in Kinematics, and presents eight papers including: “A fast and accurate method for the singular value decomposition of 3×3 matrices”, “Choice of independent coordinates in modular kinematics”, “Distance constraints solved geometrically”, and “On the ruled surface generated by a linear combination screw”. “Time‐invariant properties of planar motions”, “Projective properties of parallel manipulators” “Kinematics equations of a class of 4 DOF parallel wrists”, “Kinematic structure of a parallel robot for MEMS fabrication” and “Mobility of spatial multi‐loop and mixed linkages” are amongst the seven papers presented in Chapter 2, Properties of Mechanisms.

Chapter 3, Humanoids and Biomedical Applications, discusses subjects including: “Human‐like motion from physiologically‐based potential energies”, “Human hand movement kinematics and kinesthesia”, “Kinematic synthesis of avatar skeletons from visual data”, “Kinematics and modelling of a system for robotic surgery” and “Manipulability and accuracy measures for a medical robot in minimally invasive surgery”.

Chapter 4, Workspace and Isotropy, includes papers on: “Workspace classification of 3R orthogonal manipulators”, “Workspace classification of Stewart‐Gough manipulators with planar base and platform”, “A Cartesian representation for the boundary workspace of 3R manipulators” and “Kinematic isotropy and dynamic performances in translational parallel manipulators”.

The following two chapters present Analysis of Mechanisms, and Design of Mechanisms, respectively. These include: “Inverse kinematics with fuzzy redundancy resolution for a fire fighting robot”, “A force based approach to error analysis of parallel kinematic mechanisms”, “Singularities and mobility of a class of 4‐DOF mechanisms”, “The robust design of Schönflies‐motion generators”, “New parallel wrists: Special limbs with motion dependency” and “Design of a hybrid manipulator for painting highway signage”.

The final chapter of the book discusses Motion Synthesis and Mobility. Amongst the seven papers presented are: “Movement primitives and principal component analysis”, “Parallel mechanisms with pseudo‐planar motion generators”, “Multi‐agent manipulator control and moving obstacle avoidance”, “Kinematics of a parallel mechanism for the generation of spherical motions”, and “Control of maneuvering mobile robot by transverse functions”.

Overall, this book will be of interest to practical engineers, researchers and academics, involved in designing robots for manipulation, manufacturing, automations, surgery, locomotion and biomechanic applications.