202 CHAPTER 9.

DYNAMICS

9.2 General Expressions for Kinetic and Potential Energy

In the previous section, we showed that the Euler-Lagrange equations can be used to derive
the dynamical equations in a straightforward manner, provided one is able to express the
kinetic and potential energy of the system in terms of a set of generalized coordinates. In
order for this result to be useful in a practical context, it is therefore important that one
be able to compute these terms readily for an n-link robotic manipulator. In this section
we derive formulas for the kinetic energy and potential energy of a rigid robot using the
Denavit-Hartenberg joint variables as generalized coordinates.
To begin we note that the kinetic energy of a rigid object is the sum of two terms: the
translational energy obtained by concentrating the entire mass of the object at the center
of mass, and the rotational kinetic energy of the body about the center of mass. Referring
to Figure 9.4 we attach a coordinate frame at the center of mass (called the body attached
frame) as shown. The kinetic energy of the rigid body is then given as

zc

z0
r
yc

xc

y0

x0

Figure 9.4: A General Rigid Body

1 1
K = mv T v + ω T Iω. (9.41)
2 2

where m is the total mass of the object, v and ω are the linear and angular velocity vectors,
respectively, and I is a symmetric 3 × 3 matrix called the Inertia Tensor.