Kinematics and interactive simulation system modeling for robot manipulators

In this paper, three convenient, efficient and accurate virtual scene modeling methods are proposed for robot manipulators. 3D modeling softwares in terms of SolidWorks and UG are exploited to construct the 3D models of the virtual scene. The 3D models are established and the data are used and shared by OpenGL and VRML. The virtual scene is displayed on Visual C++, LabVIEW and MATLAB platform, which can be controlled as requested. The forward and inverse kinematics of a robot manipulator named Katana450 are analyzed by using the exponential product method, then the interactive simulation system is established based on the three mentioned platforms, finally the simulation and experimental results are provided base on MATLAB/Simulink. The methods are expected to be widely used in virtual scene modeling of robot manipulators and extended to other complex mechanical systems as well.