Modular Redundant Manipulator Design for Dynamic Performance

This article presents a methodology for the modular design of redundant manipulators for im proved dynamic performance The modularity is obtained from a special decomposition of the design problem into smaller more manageable subproblems This decomposition corresponds to a division of the redundant mechanism into non redundant macro and mini substructures that will be designed separately The design of these substructures is based on recently devel oped characterizations of end e ector inertial and acceleration properties These characterization treat the properties related to linear and angular motion separately in order to address the in homogeneities or di erences in units between them The result of this analysis is a highly e cient design process An important aspect of this analysis are the bounds it provides on the characteristics of the overall mechanism The methodology is illustrated on the design of a six degree of freedom planar manipulator