3.1 Geometric Jacobian 107 the (3 x 3) matrix S is skew-symmetric since Si) +87) =0 (6) Postmultiplying both sides of (3.6) by R(t) gives RY) = SRY) (8) that allows the time derivative of R(t) to be expressed as a function of R(t) itself Equation (3.8) relates the rotation matrix R to its derivative by means of the skew-symmetric operator $ and has a meaningful physical interpreta- tion. Consider a constant vector p’ and the vector p(t) = R(d)p’. The time derivative of p(t) is P(t) = ROP, which, in view of (8.8), can be written as BO = SRP If the vector w(t) denotes the angular velocity of frame R(t) with respect to the reference frame at time t, it is known from mechanics that bit) = w(t) x RiOp’ ‘Therefore, the matrix operator S(t) describes the veetor product between the vector w and the voetor R(f)p'. The matrix $(@) is so that its symmetric elements with respect to the main diagonal represent the components of the vector w(t) wy We? in the form +] : 9) which justifies the expression S(t) = $((t)). Hence, (3:8) can be rewritten R= SW)R. (3.10) Furthermore, if R denotes a rotation matrix, it can be shown that the following relation holds: RS(w)R™ = S(Re) B.1) which will be useful later (see Problem 3.1)