Design of robotic manipulators for optimal dynamic performance

Design methods of robotic manipulators to select the link lengths and actuator sizes for minimum-time motions along specified paths are presented. An exact method is based on a parameter optimization, using the motion time along the path as the cost function. This method serves as a benchmark for a more efficient approximation which selects system parameters so as to maximize acceleration along the path. Examples of the design of a two-link manipulator are presented, demonstrating close correlation between the exact and the approximate methods.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>