Assignment 3: Week 3 Solution

If not explained all symbols have same meaning as in the lectures

You can find the codes for MCQ – Q1, Q3 and Subjective – Q3, Q4 at this link:
https://github.com/roboticslabiisc/NPTEL-Robotics-Basics-and-Selected-Advanced-Concepts

MCQ/MSQ
1. The link lengths l1 and l2 for a 2R planar robot are 5 and 5 m. With joint restrictions −π/2 ≤ θi ≤ π/2, for i = 1, 2,
the workspace of the planar 2R schematically appears like (3 marks)

   

   

   

(A) Workspace 1.
(B) Workspace 2.
(C) Workspace 3.
(D) Workspace 4.

Answer: (A)
For the MATLAB code, visit the GitHub link provided at the beginning of the document.

2. The area of the workspace of a planar 2R robot with l1 + l2 = constant, is maximum when (2 marks)
(A) l1 > l2 .
(B) l1 < l2 .
(C) l1 = l2 .
(D) Does not depend on l1 and l2 .
Answer: (C)
Let l1 + l2 = c (constant)



Area of the workspace = A = π (l1 + l2 )2 − (l1 − l2 )2 = π c2 − (2l1 − c)2
So, to maximize A, we equate it’s first derivative to zero
∂A c
= −8π(2l1 − c) = 0 ⇒ l1 = ⇒ l1 = l2
∂l1 2
∂2A
= −16π < 0 ∴ l1 = l2 is a maxima.
∂l12 l1 =c/2

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3. For a PUMA 560, according to the convention in this course, the Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) Table is given by (4
marks)

i αi−1 ai−1 di θi
degrees m m
1 0 0 0 θ1
2 -90 0 0 θ2
3 0 0.4318 0.125 θ3
4 -90 0.019 0.432 θ4
5 90 0 0 θ5
6 -90 0 0 θ6

For the end effector orientation and position given in the transformation matrix below
 
0.8660 −0.5000 0 0.1855
0
 0.3536 0.6124 −0.7071 0.2514 
6 [T ] =  0.3536
 
0.6124 0.7071 0.1267 
0 0 0 1

the inverse kinematic solution for θ6 in the range 0 ≤ θ6 ≤ π/4 is ...................

Answer : 18.1286 degrees
For the MATLAB code, visit the GitHub link provided at the beginning of the document.

P4 P2
4. The Sylvester’s matrix for the two polynomials, P (x) = i=0 ai xi and Q(x) = i=0 bi x
i
is given by (2 marks)
 
a4 a3 a2 a1 a0 0
 0 a4 a3 a2 a1 a0 
(A) 
 0 0

b2 b1 b0 0 
0 0 0 b2 b1 b0
 
a4 a3 a2 a1 a0 0
 0 a4 a3 a2 a1 a0 
(B) 
 
b2 b1 b0 0 0 0 
0 b2 b1 b0 0 0
 
a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 0
 0 a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 
 
 b0 b1 b2 0 0 0 
(C) 
 0 b0

 b1 b2 0 0  
 0 0 b0 b1 b2 0 
0 0 0 b0 b1 b2
 
a4 a3 a2 a1 a0 0
 0 a4 a3 a2 a1 a0 
 
 b2 b1 b0 0 0 0 
(D) 
 0 b2

 b1 b0 0 0  
 0 0 b2 b1 b0 0 
0 0 0 b2 b1 b0

Answer: (D)

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Subjective
1. For the RRR manipulator shown in Figure 1, find expressions for (x, y, z) with respect to {Base} in terms of the
joint variables and li , i = 1, ..., 5 (4 marks)

Figure 1: A RRR manipulator

the D-H table of the above robot is given by

i αi−1 ai−1 di θi
1 0 0 0 θ1
2 0 l2 0 θ2
3 π/2 l3 l4 θ3

Base Base
T ool [T ] = 0 [T ] 01 [T ] 12 [T ] 23 [T ] 3T ool [T ]
 
1 0 0 0
Base
 0 1 0 0 
0 [T ] = 
 0 0

1 l1 
0 0 0 1
 
cos (θ1 ) − sin (θ1 ) 0 0
0
 sin (θ1 ) cos (θ1 ) 0 0 
1 [T ] = 
 
0 0 1 0 
0 0 0 1
 
cos (θ2 ) − sin (θ2 ) 0 l2
 sin (θ2 ) cos (θ2 ) 0 0 
1

2 [T ] = 

0 0 1 0 
0 0 0 1
 
cos (θ3 ) − sin (θ3 ) 0 l3
2
 0 0 −1 −l4 
3 [T ] =  sin (θ )
 
3 cos (θ3 ) 0 0 
0 0 0 1

3
  
1 0 0 l5
3
 0 1 0 0 
T ool [T ] =  0 0 1
 
0 
0 0 0 1
Base
T ool [T ] =



c1 c2 − s2 2 c3 − c1 c2 − s2 2 s3
 
c1 s2 + c2 s2 ((c3 l5 + l3 ) c2 + s2 l4 + l2 ) c1 − s2 (−l4 c2 + s2 (c3 l5 + l3 ))
 (c1 s2 + c2 s2 ) c3
 − (c1 s2 + c2 s2 ) s3 −c1 c2 + s2 2 ((c3 l5 + l3 ) c2 + s2 l4 + l2 ) s2 + c1 (−l4 c2 + s2 (c3 l5 + l3 )) 

 s3 c3 0 s3 l5 + l1 
0 0 0 1

2. Derive the inverse kinematics equations of a SCARA manipulator shown in Lecture and sketch the workspace of
the SCARA manipulator. (3 marks)
Position and orientation of the end effector of the SCARA robot is given by (see slide 15):
x = a1 c1 + a2 c12
y = a1 s1 + a2 s12
z = −d3
φ = θ1 + θ2 + θ4
∴ Inverse Kinematics (IK) solution is:
d3 = −z
The rest is similar to IK of planar 3-R robot.
 2
x + y 2 − a21 − a22

θ2 = ± cos−1
2a1 a2
θ1 = atan2(y, x) − atan2(k2 , k1 ) where, k1 = a1 + a2 c2 and k2 = a2 s2
θ4 = φ − θ1 − θ2
The workspace of SCARA will be a hollow cylinder with inner radius (a1 − a2 ) (assuming a1 > a2 ) and outer radius
(a1 + a2 ) with height d3 . Note here no joint restrictions are mentioned, so the workspace will be full circle.

Figure 2: Workspace of SCARA robot

3. For the planar 3R manipulator, discussed in Lecture, verify numerically that for a point (x, y) chosen in the dexterous
region, i.e., between circles of radius l1 + l2 − l3 , and l1 − l2 + l3 , the inverse kinematics can be solved with arbitrary
φ. Use l1 = 5, l2 = 3 and l3 = 1. Provide a brief explanation to the methodology used in the code. (4 marks)
Methodology:

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 (a) First all the points inside the dexterous region are found out (some step length apart).
(b) For each point (x, y) and φ ∈ [0, 2π], we solve the Inverse Kinematics (IK) of the planar 3R robot.
(c) Wee can check if the θi ’s obtained after IK are real valued.

For the MATLAB code, visit the GitHub link provided at the beginning of the document.

4. Take a straight line path in the workspace starting at (4,-4) (corresponding θi , i = 1, 2, 3) and ending at (7,5)
(corresponding θi , i = 1, 2, 3, solve the inverse kinematics for the redundant planar 3R robot (as shown in Lec-
ture). Plot θi when joint rotations are limited as −120◦ ≤ θ2 ≤ +120◦ , and the link lengths are 5, 3, and 1 units,
respectively. Use the additional equation

l1 l2 θ3 s2 + l2 l3 (θ1 − θ2 )s3 + l3 l1 (θ3 − θ2 )s23 = 0

derived for minimising the sum of the squares of the joint rotations for resolution of redundancy and fmincon
routine in Matlab. (4 marks)
For the MATLAB code and plots, visit the GitHub link provided in the beginning of the document.