Resolving kinematic redundancy in robotic manipulators; performance measures, repeatability and algorithmic singularities

This paper addresses the problem of obtaining a tracking algorithm for robotic manipulators having redundant degrees of freedom. A performance measure is introduced as a way to incorporate secondary concerns and constraints into the problem. Conditions for repeatability are obtained as well as a means of predicting and controlling the time response of tracking errors. A three DOF planar manipulator is used as an example. Plots of algorithmic singularities and simulated trajectories illustrate the robustness of the approach