Robot Kinematics and Dynamics Modeling

Abstract

The robotic kinematics is essential for describing an end-effector’s position, orientation as well as motion of all the joints, while dynamics modeling is crucial for analyzing and synthesizing the dynamic behavior of robot. In this chapter, the kinematics and dynamics modeling procedures of the Baxter robot are investigated thoroughly. The robotic kinematics is briefly reviewed by highlighting its basic role in analyzing the motion of robot. By extracting the parameters from an URDF file, the kinematics model of the Baxter robot is built. Two experiments are performed to verify that the kinematics model matches the real robot. Next, the dynamics of robot is briefly introduced by highlighting its role in establishing the relation between the joint actuator torques and the resulting motion. The method for derivation of the Lagrange–Euler dynamics of the Baxter manipulator is presented, followed by experimental verification using data collected from the physical robot. The results show that the derived dynamics model is a good match to the real dynamics, with small errors in three different end-effector trajectories.