An Approach for Mapping Kinematic Task Specifications into
a Manipulator Design
Abstract: The Reconfigurable Modular Manipulator System (RMMS)
consists of modular links and joints which can be assembled into many
manipulator configurations. This capability allows the RMMS to be rapidly
reconfigured in order to custom tailor it to specific tasks. An important
issue, related to the RMMS, is the determination of the optimal manipulator
configuration for a specific task. In this paper, we address the problem of
mapping kinematic task specifications into a kinematic manipulator
configuration. For the design of 2 degrees-of-freedom planar manipulators,
an analytical solution is derived. Since, for problems with more than 2
design parameters, analytical solutions become impractical, we have also
developed a numerical approach for the design of 6 degrees-of-freedom
manipulators.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Advanced Robotics,
Vol. 1, pp. 556-561, Pisa, Italy, June 1991.
paredis@cmu.edu