This paper presents a successive approximation method (SAM) for solving a large class of optimal control problems. The proposed analytical-approximate method, successively solves the Two-Point Boundary Value Problem (TPBVP), obtained from the Pontryagin's Maximum Principle (PMP). The convergence of this method is proved and a control design algorithm with low computational complexity is present...

The optimal path planning of cooperative manipulators is studied in the present research. Optimal Control Theory is employed to calculate the optimal path of each joint choosing an appropriate index of the system to be minimized and taking the kinematics equations as the constraints. The formulation has been derived using Pontryagin Minimum Principle and results in a Two Point Boundary Value Pr...