Kinematics of Vehicle-Manipulator Systems

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter studies in detail the kinematics of vehicle-manipulator systems, which is the main topic of this book. Kinematically, the vehicle and the robotic manipulator are quite different in nature. While the manipulator’s motion space can be written in terms of a simple Euclidean (flat) configuration space, the vehicle’s state space is curved and defined on manifolds. We describe in detail how to find the kinematic relations of these two systems in terms of one unified theory. The formulation describes the vehicle’s state space as embedded in a manifold while it maintains the simplicity of the Euclidean space of the manipulator arm.The kinematics of vehicle-manipulator systems is derived in detail with focus on obtaining a well-defined formulation. The chapter will give the reader a deeper understanding of the underlying spaces and in particular help to understand the difference between Euclidean and non-Euclidean spaces. This will give the reader the necessary background to model complex mechanical systems, including multibody systems with both simple Euclidean transformations and complex transformations described using matrix Lie groups.KeywordsMultibody SystemConfiguration SpaceInertial FrameJoint PositionRobotic ManipulatorThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.