In this paper, a systematic methodology to calculate the end-effector position and orientation errors of a robotic manipulator is presented. The method treats the physical error sources in a unified manner during the system’s design so that the effect they have on the end-effector positioning accuracy can be compared and the dominant sources identified. Based on this methodology, a computer pro...

This paper presents a technique called the Enhanced Disturbance Map to plan space manipulator motions that will result in relatively low spacecraft disturbances. This subject is of significant concern because future robotic systems used in space may encounter problems due to the dynamic disturbances imposed on their spacecraft by their manipulator motions. Although a spacecraft's attitude contr...

This paper proposes a neural-network-based method for the computation of the configuration space for robotic manipulators. The configuration space can be obtained by repeatedly computing configuration space patterns for elementary obstacle primitives. For any manipulator, these patterns depend only on the distance between the base of the manipulator and the obstacle primitive. An RBF-network is...

In recent years, many successful robotic manipulator designs have been introduced. However, there remains the challenge of designing a manipulator that possesses the inherent safety characteristics necessary for human-centered robotics. In this paper, we present a new actuation approach that has the requisite characteristics for inherent safety while maintaining the performance expected of mode...

In this paper, we focus on a class of robotic manipulators that utilize continuous backbone structures. Such manipulators, known as “continuum” robots, exhibit behavior similar to tentacles, trunks, and snakes. Specifically, we have previously discussed some of the mechanical and kinematic details of the Clemson “Tentacle Manipulator.” This work examines the dynamic characteristics of this mani...

a r t i c l e i n f o Unlike robotics in the manufacturing industry, on-site construction robotics has to consider and address two unique challenges: 1) the rugged, evolving, and unstructured environment of typical work sites; and 2) the reversed spatial relationship between the product and the manipulator, i.e., the manipulator has to travel to and localize itself at the work face, rather than...