BCSE422L

Robot Modeling and

Simulation
Control Architecture
•A reference model for the functional architecture of an industrial robot’s
control system.
•The hierarchical structure and its articulation into functional modules allows the
determination of the requirements and characteristics of the programming
environment and the hardware architecture.
Functional Architecture
The control system to supervise the activities of a robotic system should be endowed with a number of
tools providing the following functions:
• capability of moving physical objects in the working environment, i.e., manipulation ability;
• capability of obtaining information on the state of the system and working environment, i.e., sensory
ability;
• capability of exploiting information to modify system behaviour in a preprogrammed manner, i.e.,
intelligence ability;
• capability of storing, elaborating and providing data on system activity, i.e., data processing ability.
•An effective implementation of these functions can be obtained by means of a functional architecture
which is thought of as the superposition of several activity levels arranged in a hierarchical structure.
The lower levels of the structure are oriented to physical motion execution, whereas the higher levels
are oriented to logical action planning.
 Programming Environment
• Programming a robotic system requires definition of a programming environment supported by suitable languages, which allows
the operator imparting the task directions that the robot should execute.
• The programming environment is entrusted not only with the function of translating statements by means of a suitable language,
but also with the function of checking correct execution of a task being executed by the robot.
• A robot programming environment should be endowed with the following features:
1. • real-time operating system,
2. • world modelling,
3. • motion control,
4. • sensory data reading,
5. • interaction with physical system,
6. • error detection capability,
7. • recovery of correct operational functions,
8. • specific language structure.
Programming environment Evolution
1. teaching-by-showing - The first generation has been characterized by programming
techniques of
teaching-by-showing type. The operator guides the manipulator manually or by means
of a teach pendant along the desired motion path.
2. robot-oriented programming - The need for interaction of the environment with
physical reality has imposed integration of several functions, typical of high-level
programming languages (BASIC, PASCAL), with those specifically required by robotic
applications.
3. object-oriented programming - a programming environment that allows access at
the task level of a reference model of functional architecture is characterized by an
object oriented language. Such an environment should have the capability of specifying
a task by means of high-level statements allowing automatic execution of a number of
actions on the objects present in the scene.
 Hardware Architecture
•The hierarchical structure of the functional architecture adopted as a reference model for an industrial robot’s
control system, together with its articulation into different functional modules, suggests hardware implementation
which exploits distributed computational resources interconnected by means of suitable communication channels
The system board is typically a CPU endowed with:
• a microprocessor with mathematical coprocessor,
• a bootstrap EPROM memory,
• a local RAM memory,
• a RAM memory shared with the other boards through the bus,
• a number of serial and parallel ports interfacing the bus and the external world,
• counters, registers and timers
• an interrupt system.
The following functions are to be implemented in the system board:
• operator interface through teach pendant, keyboard, video and printer,
• interface with an external memory (hard disk) used to store data and application
programs,
• interface with workstations and other control systems by means of a local
communication network, e.g., Ethernet,
• I/O interface with peripheral devices in the working area, e.g., feeders, conveyors and
ON/OFF sensors,
• system bootstrap,
• programming language interpreter,
• bus arbiter.
the following functions are implemented in the kinematics board:
• computation of motion primitives,
• computation of direct kinematics, inverse kinematics and Jacobian,
• test for trajectory feasibility,
• handling of kinematic redundancy.
The dynamics board is devoted to
• computation of inverse dynamics.
The servo board has the functions of:
• microinterpolation of references,
• computation of control algorithm,
• digital-to-analog conversion and interface with power amplifiers,
• handling of position and velocity transducer data,
• motion interruption in case of malfunction.
The force board performs the following operations:
• conditioning of data provided by the force sensor,
• representation of forces in a given coordinate frame.
The vision board is in charge of:
• processing data provided by the camera,
• extracting geometric features of the scene,
• localizing objects in given coordinate frames.
Dynamics
•Derivation of the dynamic model of a manipulator plays an important role for simulation
of motion, analysis of manipulator structures, and design of control algorithms.
Simulating manipulator motion allows control strategies and motion planning techniques
to be tested without the need to use a physically available system.
•There are two methods for derivation of the equations of motion of a manipulator in the
joint space.
•The first method is based on the Lagrange formulation and is conceptually simple
and systematic.
•The second method is based on the Newton–Euler formulation and yields the model
in a recursive form; it is computationally more efficient since it exploits the
typically open structure of the manipulator kinematic chain.
 Lagrange Formulation
•The dynamic model of a manipulator provides a description of the relationship between the joint actuator
torques and the motion of the structure.
•With Lagrange formulation, the equations of motion can be derived in a systematic way independently of
the reference coordinate frame. Once a set of variables qi, i = 1, . . . , n, termed generalized coordinates, are
chosen which effectively describe the link positions of an n-DOF manipulator, the
 Computation of Kinetic Energy
Consider a manipulator with n rigid links. The total kinetic energy is given by the sum
of the contributions relative to the motion of each link and the contributions relative to
the motion of each joint actuator
DA 2 - Notable Properties of Dynamic Model and
Dynamic Model of Simple Manipulator Structures
Two notable properties of the dynamic model are
1. Skew-symmetry of Matrix ˙B − 2C
2. Linearity in the Dynamic Parameters

Dynamic Model of Simple Manipulator Structures

1. two link planar Arm
2. Parallelogram Arm
3. Two-link Cartesian Arm
Submission on 20th October 2024
Dynamic Parameter Identification
▪The use of the dynamic model for solving simulation and control problems demands the
knowledge of the values of dynamic parameters of the manipulator model.
▪In order to find accurate estimates of dynamic parameters, it is worth
resorting to identification techniques which conveniently exploit the
property of linearity of the manipulator model with respect to a suitable set
of dynamic parameters.
▪Such techniques allow the computation of the parameter vector π from the
measurements of joint torques τ and of relevant quantities for the
evaluation of the matrix Y , when suitable motion trajectories are imposed
to the manipulator.
Newton–Euler Formulation
▪In the Lagrange formulation, the manipulator dynamic model is derived starting
from the total Lagrangian of the system.
▪On the other hand, the Newton–Euler formulation is based on a balance of
all the forces acting on the generic link of the manipulator.
▪This leads to a set of equations whose structure allows a recursive type of
solution; a forward recursion is performed for propagating link velocities and
accelerations, followed by a backward recursion for propagating forces.
▪Newton–Euler formulation describes the motion of the link in terms of a balance
of forces and moments acting on it. The Newton equation for the translational
motion of the centre of mass can be written as
Direct Dynamics and Inverse Dynamics
The Lagrange formulation has the following advantages:
• It is systematic and of immediate comprehension.
• It provides the equations of motion in a compact analytical form containing
the inertia matrix, the matrix in the centrifugal and Coriolis forces, and the
vector of gravitational forces. Such a form is advantageous for control design.
• It is effective if it is wished to include more complex mechanical effects such as
flexible link deformation.

The Newton–Euler formulation has the following fundamental advantage:

• It is an inherently recursive method that is computationally efficient.
Dynamic Scaling of Trajectories
▪The existence of dynamic constraints to be taken into account for trajectory
generation
 Operational Space Dynamic Model
▪As an alternative to the joint space dynamic model, the equations of motion of the
system can be expressed directly in the operational space; to this end it is necessary to find
a dynamic model which describes the relationship between the generalized forces acting on
the manipulator and the number of minimal variables chosen to describe the end-effector
position and orientation in the operational space.
▪Similar to kinematic description of a manipulator in the operational space, the presence of
redundant DOFs and/or kinematic and representation singularities deserves careful
attention in the derivation of an operational space dynamic model.
▪Describes the relationship between joint space and operational space accelerations, i.e.,
Dynamic Manipulability Ellipsoid