In this work, the dimensional synthesis of a spherical Parallel Manipulator (PM) with a 3PSU-IS kinematic chain is presented. The goal of the synthesis is to find a set of parameters that defines the PM with the best performance in terms of workspace capabilities, dexterity and isotropy. The PM is parametrized in terms of a reference element, and a non-directed search of these parameters is car...

We introduce a novel method to build multiple local regression models based on the prototype vectors of the SOM network and other well-known vector quantization (VQ) algorithms. The resulting models are evaluated in the task of identifying the inverse dynamics of a heat exchanger data set. Additionally, we evaluate through statistical hypothesis testing the influence of the VQ algorithm on the ...

The development of legged robots for complex environments requires controllers that guarantee both high tracking performance and compliance with the environment. More specifically the control of the contact interaction with the environment is of crucial importance to ensure stable, robust and safe motions. In this contribution we develop an inverse-dynamics controller for floating-base robots u...

This paper presents the modeling of the light-weight BioRob robot arm with series elastic actuation for simulation and controller design. We describe the kinematic coupling introduced by the cable actuation and the robot arm dynamics including the elastic actuator and motor and gear model. We show how the inverse dynamics model derived from these equations can be used as a basis for a position ...

This paper describes the inverse kinematics kicking system used in UT Austin Villa’s submission to the humanoid RoboCup simulation league competition. It describes the infrastructure we designed and how machine learning is used to optimize a set of kicks with the hope of developing a versatile and omnidirectional kick. As of now, the ability to kick has not substantially affected the outcome of...

Films like Shrek, Madagascar, The Chronicles of Narnia and Charlotte’s web all have something in common: realistic quadruped animations. While the animation of animals has been popular for a long time, the technical challenges associated with creating highly realistic, computer generated creatures have been receiving increasing attention recently. The entertainment, education and medical indust...

In the computerized generation of human poses, it is important to take into account not only the active component of the torque, but also the ligaments and connective tissues which produce a passive torque at the limits of the joint range of motion. We present a fatigue model in which both active and passive torque components are essential parameters integrated in an inverse kinematics animatio...

Skeletal animation is a concept that has been used in the areas of motion pictures and computer games to create realistic motion for the animation of articulated characters. Recent work (Merrick & Dwyer 2004, Murray et al. 2004) has applied skeletal animation techniques from inverse kinematics and dynamics to the field of graph interaction. The motivation for this paper is to evaluate the dynam...

This paper presents a hip joint motion simulation method using accurate hip joint center and hip range of motion. We calculate the extreme hip joint range of motion centered on the hip joint center (HJC) that is located by an automatic calculation algorithm on 3D reconstructed surface models. We make 3D bone surface models from CT (Computer Tomography) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The m...

The problem of inverse kinematics is revisited in the present paper. The paper is focusing on the problem of solving the inverse kinematics problem while minimizing the jerk of the joints trajectories. Even-though the conventional inverse kinematics algorithms have been proven to be efficient in many applications, no contraintes on the accelerations or the jerk of the obtained trajectories can ...