Minimal linear combinations of the inertia parameters of a manipulator

This paper deals with the problem of identifying the inertia parameters of a manipulator. We begin by introducing the terminology of minimal linear combinations (MLC´s) of the inertia parameters that are linearly independent of one another and determine the manipulator dynamics while keeping the number of linear combinations of the inertia parameters to a minimum. The problem is then to find an identification procedure for estimating the MLC´s and to use the MLC´s in the inverse dynamics for control. The recursive Newton-Euler formulation is rederived in terms of the MLC´s. The resulting formulation is almost as efficient as the most efficient formulation in the literature. This formulation also provides a starting point from which to derive a recursive identification procedure. The identification procedure is simple and efficient, since it does not require symbolic closed-form equations and it has a recursive structure. The three themes concerning the dynamic modeling of a manipulator $the MLC´s, the inverse dynamics in terms of the MLC´s, and the identification procedure - are treated in sequence