Robot kinematics
Robotic arm
• A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable,
with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total
of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot.
Links and Joints
• Robot structure consists of several links and joints
• End effector will be attached to the end of robotic arm
• Positioning of end effector is performed by the movement of several
links.
• Links are the rigid members connecting the joints
• Joints are the movable components which causes relative motion
between links
Representing the configuration
of a robot
• Since the links are rigid and have a constant shape, we need a few
numbers to represent the configuration of a robot.
(Soft robots are exceptions.)
• Configuration of the robot is the representation of positions of all the
points of the robot
• Degrees of freedom: The minimum number of real numbers needed
to represent the configuration of a robot.
• Since the robot consists of rigid bodies, number of degrees of
freedom a robot depends on the number of degrees of freedom of a
rigid body.
• A rigid body in 3-dimensional space has 6 degrees of freedom.
(3 rotations and 3 translations)
DOF of robot = Freedoms of bodies - #of independent
constraints
Constraints: The restrictions imposed on the motion are
known as constraints.
In robotics, the constraints of motion often come from the
joints.
The most common type of joint is the revolute joint.
It places 5 constraints to the motion of the second spatial rigid
body relative to the first. Therefore the second body has only
one degree of freedom relative to the first body given by the
angle of the revolute joint.
Revolute joint
Prismatic joint: 1 DOF
Universal joint: 2 DOF
Spherical joint (ball and socket joint): 3 DOF
Open-chain planar robots with
only revolute joints
• Planar motion refers to the motion of an object along a two-
dimensional space or plane. This motion encompasses two directions
usually referred to as Cartesian coordinates (x, y).
3R-planar
4R-planar
