Kinematic Isotropy and the Conditioning Index of Serial Robotic Manipulators

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Abstract
The conditioning index of a serial robotic manipulator is de fined in this article in terms of the reciprocal of its minimum condition number. The condition number of a manipulator is defined, in turn, as that of its Jacobian matrix. Moreover, in defining the Jacobian condition number, a quadratic norm of the Jacobian matrix is needed. However, this norm, or for that matter any other norm, brings about dimensional inho mogeneities. It is shown here that by properly defining the said norm based on a weighting positive definite matrix, the dimensional inhomogeneity is resolved. Manipulators with a conditioning index of 100% are termed isotropic, a six-axis isotropic manipulator being introduced. This manipulator has all its angles between neighboring revolute axes at 90° and all its distances between neighboring axes identical; more over, these distances are identical to the offsets of those axes. The kinematic conditioning of wrist-partitioned manipulators is given due attention, and illustrated with some examples of industrial robots of this type.

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