Software-aided design of robotic mechanisms

Robotics, as a multi-disciplinary branch of science and technology, is concerned with a variety of computer-controlled electro-mechanical structures designed for a multitude of applications. A large body of knowledge has been accumulated on the operation and control of robot manipulators consisting of single kinematic chains. That knowledge is now being applied to multi-structure mechanisms that combine several kinematic chains into a variety of arrangements to create more complex robots. This article describes a software package developed to facilitate the design, analysis, and simulation of robot manipulators that can be effectively applied to the development and study of complex robotics structures through a divide-and-conquer method. The application of the software to the design and analysis of humanoid robots is described as a typical example application.