Comprehensive research and analysis on obstacle–singularity–joint limit avoidance of redundant robot

Abstract

Redundant robots can complete other tasks while performing main task and have excellent motion performance. Although redundant robots have redundancy characteristics, they may still fall into singular configuration or cannot overcome joint limits due to the limitation of their own structure and motion law. Besides, currently, most of the research mainly focus on obstacle avoidance at the end of the robot. So comprehensive study is conducted on avoidance of obstacle, singularity, and joint limit of redundant robot. Firstly, the kinematics model of robot is obtained by D-H matrix method. Space vector distance method is proposed to calculate the position relationship between robot and obstacle, and potential function is constructed. Based on gradient projection method, using the damped generalized inverse and the weighted norm method, the mathematical models of obstacle avoidance, singularity avoidance, and joint limit avoidance are constructed. The simulation results show that the robot can avoid the obstacle in three-dimensional redundant space. At the same time, manipulability and minimum singular value of the robot are always positive. After adding the function of avoiding joint limit, during the whole control process, the motion range of joint angle is reduced and the angular velocity is relatively small, which ensure the motion stability of robot. Namely, the singular configuration and joint limit of robot are avoided. The research is of great significance for practical application of redundant robot.