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ii
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i
Certificate ii
Acknowledgement iii
Abstract iv
List of Figures v
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Kinematic chains and mechanisms 1
1.2 Representation of Kinematic chains 2
1.3 Motivation 5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 Literature overview 12
3. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES 14
4. METHODOLOGY 15
4.1 Degrees of Freedom 15
4.2 Test for fractionated degree of freedom 16
4.3 Test for partial degree of freedom 18
5. FLOWCHART 19
6. PSEUDO CODE 21
6.1 Importing Libraries 21
6.2 Creating Adjacency Matrix 21
6.3 Test for fractionated degree of freedom 22
6.4 Test for partial degree of freedom 23
6.5 Test for Full degree of freedom 24
7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 25
8. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK 31
9. REFERENCE 32
 LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 Eight Link chain 1

1.2 a) Structural representation 3

1.2 b) Graphical representation 3

1.3 a) Structural representation of 14 link 4

1.3 b) Graphical representation of 14 link 4

1.4 Matrix representation of chain 4

2.1 Four bar one degree of freedom chain 7

2.2 Fourteen linked kinematic mechanism in which shaded shapes 9

and lines represent the mechanical components while circles

represent the connections among them.

2.3 It represents a graphical representation of a fourteen linked kinematic chain. 9

2.4 Adjacency matrix representation of Figure 2.3 kinematic chain 10

2.5 Loop connectivity matrix(LOCM) 11

4.1 Nine Link kinematic Chain 17

5.1 Flowchart for Identification of types of degree of freedom 19

6.1 Importing numpy library 21

6.2 Creating Adjacency matrix 22

6.3 Test for fractionated degree of freedom 23

6.4 Test for partial degree of freedom 24

6.5 Test for full degree of freedom 24

7.1 Nine link Fractionated chain with DOF 2 25

7.2 Output for Figure 7.1 kinematic chain 26

7.3 Seven link kinematic chain with DOF 2 26

7.4 Output for Figure 7.3 kinematic chain 27

7.5 Fourteen link kinematic chain with DOF 1 27

7.6 Output for Figure 7.5 kinematic chain 28

7.7: Eight link kinematic chain with DOF 3 29

7.8: Output for Figure 7.7 kinematic chain 29

7.9: Nine link kinematic chain with DOF 2 30

7.10: Output for Figure 7.9 kinematic chain 30

 Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Link Flow Matrix Method

The paper [1] presents a simple method for determining whether a kinematic chain has
total, partial, or fractionated mobility. The proposed method applies chain flow values
derived from the flow matrix of a given kinematic chain to all known cases of 2 and 3
degree of freedom planar kinematic chains with success. The method can be applied to
more complex chains that have to be reported in the literature because it is systematic and
efficient. With respect to mobility this will be useful in dividing the frame and input
links.

The terminologies used in the paper are:

1. Mobility – This is similar to degrees of freedom of mechanisms and is used
interchangeably.
2. Planar kinematic chain - Kinematic chain which can be drawn on a plane without
any crossed links.
3. Contour: A counter is defined as a closed loop allowing it to pass through
kinematic joints belonging to it.
4. Internal contour: It is defined as a closed loop allowing one to travel through
kinematic joints belonging to the interior of a kinematic chain.These contours for
any chain can easily be identified by visual inspection and do not depend upon the
manner in which the chain is drawn.
5. Sub contour: They are the combinations of the inter contours For example, if the
internal contours are (1), (2) and (3), the sub contours for that chain are (1-2),
(1-3), (2-3) and (1-2-3), to avoiding repetition of a combination similarly if the
chain has 4, internal contours all possible sub contours for the chain are (1-2),
(1-3), (1-4), (2-3), (2-4), (3-4), (1-2-3), (1-2-4), (1-3-4), (2-3-4) and (1-2-3-4). The

6
 last sub counter for any chain includes all the counters and is also known as
external contour(figure 2.1).
6. Link Flow Matrix: For an n-link contour it is defined as an n x n square matrix
whose any ith and jth element Fij is defined as [FM] = {Fij} n x n.

Where Fij {= Minimum number of joints between link i and j. = 0 if i is equal to

j}. All the Diagonal Elements will be zero.

[FM]=[ 0 F12 F13 - - F1n

F21 0 F23 - - F2n
F31 F32 0 - - F3n
-----------
Fn1 Fn2 - - - 0 ]

7. Chain Flow Value : It is the algebraic sum of all elements of the link flow
matrix.
There are three types of degrees of freedom such as:
● Partial Degree of freedom.
● Fractionated degree of freedom.
● Full degree of freedom

Example 1:

Figure 2.1: Four bar one degree of freedom chain[1]

7
Link Flow Matrix

Link 1 2 3 4

1 [ 0 1 2 1]

2 [ 1 0 1 2]

3 [ 2 1 0 1]

4 [ 1 2 1 0]

So the Chain flow value of a four bar one DOF contour is 16.

Matrix Method
The paper[2] focuses on graph theory, which is used for structural analysis of kinematic
chains and degree of freedom identification. This paper proposes a graph theory-based
method for solving structural problems using a suitable example of a fourteen-link
kinematic chain. The paper presents a simple and reliable method for analysing the
structural integrity of a fourteen-link kinematic chain. The kinematic chain is represented
here using a simple incidence matrix. The proposed method is used to find the
characteristic polynomial equation of a kinematic chain with fourteen links. An algebraic
test based on graph theory is also used to determine whether a kinematic chain's degree of
freedom is total, partial, or fractionated.

To solve the structural analysis problem, a kinematic graph is created. For determining
the characteristic coefficients of the matrix associated with the kinematic chain, Bocher's
formulae have been presented(figure 2.2 and 2.3).

8
 Figure 2.2: This Figure represents the schematic diagram of a fourteen linked
kinematic mechanism in which shaded shapes and lines represent the mechanical
components while circles represent the connections among them.

Figure 2.3: It represents a graphical representation of a fourteen linked kinematic

chain.[2]

9
Usually we represent a n-link simple jointed kinematic chain by a nth order systematic
zero-one. Let G be the graph with n vertices, e edges and no self-loops. Define matrix
element A = [aij], whose n rows correspond to the n vertices and the e columns
correspond to the e edges as follows:
Aij = 1, if jth edge ej is incident on ith vertex vi and
= 0, otherwise.
So the incidence matrix for the fourteen links kinematic chain is A(figure 2.4).

Figure 2.4: Adjacency matrix representation of Figure 2.3 kinematic chain[2]

The Paper [2] leads us to the enumeration of a certain class of graphs that can be viewed
as the synthesis of kinematic chains. The use of group theoretic methods in the generation
of combinatorial structures, of which kinematic mechanisms are a part, can result in a
huge increase in computational efficiency.

10
Euler’s Method
This paper[3] presents a new algorithm for computing connectivity in kinematic chains
with total and partial mobility. The algorithm, which is based on graph theory, can detect
partial mobility in a kinematic chain and then find the corresponding connectivity matrix.
The new approaches give good performance in some difficult cases have been
demonstrated by the results.

The Degree of Freedom can be found by using Euler’s Formula.

In a Graph, the total number of independent circuits is given by Euler’s Equation:
Lind = j - l + 1
Where Lind is independent circuits, j is the number of pairs and l is the number of
members of a given kinematic chain.

Path Loop Connectivity Matrix

This paper[4] To determine all possible loops in a kinematic chain, a general path loop
connectivity matrix is defined as,

Figure 2.5: Loop connectivity matrix(LOCM)

11
where the first K row and K column correspond to a set of K independent loops, and the
(K+l)th row and column correspond to the corresponding peripheral loops. Any
off-diagonal element aij is defined as

ai j = Cij , if loops i and j are directly connected through interloop junction Cij

aij = 0 , otherwise

Test For Fractionated Degree Of Freedom

The following test for fractionated freedom using loop paths (CijCjkCkl, CijCjkCklClm, etc.)
and path Loop Connectivity Matrix of kinematic chains.
This method may be called a loop path method as the test is based on the concept that no
path exists between independent loops belonging to separate sub chains when peripheral
loop Lk+1 is removed, or in other words when
Ck+1 = C2k+1 = 0
are put in Path Loop Connectivity Matrix.

2.1 LITERATURE OVERVIEW

Paper[1] Gives Thorough, on proof being offered, the author’s strongly believe that this
method is able to identify the type of freedom of two and three degree of freedom planar
kinematic chains, up to 10 links.This requires knowledge of contours which is not
explained in this paper and finding subcontours is hard for every chain using that finding
CFV is time consuming.

Paper[2] based on graph theory is proposed in this paper to solve structural problems by
using a suitable example of fourteen links kinematic chains only. Solving the trace of a
matrix is difficult and calculating every value is complex. The proposed method is
applied for determining the characteristic polynomial equation of a fourteen -linked

12
kinematic chain. This method solves mainly for fractionated degrees of freedom and does
not talk much about partial degrees of freedom and full degrees of freedom.

Paper[3] With regard to the topological method, this algorithm is able to find the
mobility of all the subchains of a given kinematic chain and, for the first time, to compute
the connectivity matrix for plane and spatial kinematic chains, regardless of their kind of
DOF but the difficulty lies is finding the topology of the chain is difficult and this method
is proposed is very time consuming.
The strategy used here is recursive procedure and complex as well.

Paper[4] Path loop connectivity method. This method is not so efficient to solve for
every given chain,and time complexity is very high. Mainly it focuses and solves
Fractionated degrees of freedom. It is not speaking anything about full degree of freedom
and partial degree of freedom.

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 Chapter 3
PROBLEM STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVE

To Identify the types of degrees of freedom in kinematic chains.

To check whether the kinematic chain has

1. Full degree of freedom - A chain is said to have total degree of freedom if n

number of links of chain can moved independent of each other, relative to any
other link and motion of all other remaining links is dependent on the motion of all
these n links

2. Partial degree of freedom - A chain which does not satisfy the conditions of Full
degree of freedom is said to have partial degree of freedom. This type of freedom
gives partial freedom of selection of links of a given multi degree of freedom
kinematic chain for input.

3. Fractionated degree of freedom - A chain besides violating these condition consists

of a link (called separation link) by cutting the chain into two ,so the chain of
degree of freedom f can be split into two sub chains of degree of freedom f1 and
f2, then it is said to have a fractionated degree of freedom.

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 Chapter 4

METHODOLOGY

4.1 DEGREES OF FREEDOM

Degree of freedom can be determined by the using the Grubbler’s criterion given by[6]

F = 3(L −1)−2j

where L is the number of links and j is the number of joints.

The type of freedom in the multi degree of freedom chain is an important
consideration in order to select the frame and actuator (input) links from the view point
of mobility. A multi degree of freedom kinematic chain possesses one of the following
types of freedom.

1. Full degree of freedom : A chain is said to have a Full degree of freedom F if any
F links of the chain can be moved independent of one another, relative to any other
link and the motion of all the remaining links is dependent on the motion of all
these F and not less than F links. In other words a kinematic chain is said to have
total degree of freedom F if every contour has mobility larger than or equal to F.
Thus, a multi (two) DOF kinematic chain has Full degree of freedom if there is an
absence of one DOF four bar contour in that particular chain. This type of freedom
gives total freedom of selection of any link of a given multi degree of freedom
kinematic chain for input. For example, if two DOF kinematic chains have Full
degree of freedom then any two links of this chain can be selected as input links.

2. Partial degree of freedom : A chain which does not satisfy the conditions of Full
degree of freedom is said to have partial degree of freedom. This type of freedom
gives partial freedom of selection of links of a given multi degree of freedom
kinematic chain for input. For example, if two DOF kinematic chains have a

15
 Partial degree of freedom then any two links of this chain can not be selected as
input links.

3. Fractionated degree of freedom : The concept of Fractionated degree of freedom

was first introduced by Monolescu8. It is a special case of Partial degree of
freedom in which a chain also consists of a link (called the separation link) by
cutting which into two, the chain of F degree of freedom can be split into two
separate chains of DOF F1 and F2 such that F1 + F2 = F. Thus, a kinematic chain
has a Fractionated degree of freedom if it contains at least one link which must
have at least four pairs(figure 1.3a and 1.3b).

4.2 Test for fractionated degree of freedom

The link nine cut the chain into two different single degrees of freedom chains viz. the
four bar 9-6-2-4 and six bar 9-5-7-1-3-8. It is seen that when vertex nine is deleted the
graph becomes disconnected. In graph theory such a vertex is called a ’cut vertex’ and
the graph consisting of such vertex is called a separate graph. Therefore, the presence of
a cut vertex in the kinematic chain is necessary and sufficient to conclude that the chain
has a fractionated degree of freedom.
The test for fractionated degree of freedom is proceed as follows:

1. Check for the number of rows with more than three non-zero entries in them (it is
obvious that a separation link has to be at least a quaternary link or the cut vertex
must have a degree of freedom of at least four). If there is no such row the chain
cannot have a fractionated degree of freedom. If there is one or more such rows,
proceed to the next step.

2. Obtained matrix A, [(n-1) x (n-1)] order by deleting the row and column from
matrix A (n x n) where kth row has more than three non-zero entries. So that Ak is
obtained.

3. Compute what is called the reachability matrix Ra given by[2]

16
 Where I is the identity matrix and Ax A². AR. AK². A², Ax are the power of A. All
the computations involved in finding R, are carried out as per Boolean algebra viz.
1+1-1, 1+0-1, 0+1=1, 1x0-0, 0x1-0, 1x1-1.

4. Check for the presence of zeros in R. The presence of zeros in R, indicates that k is
a cut vertex and that the graph becomes disconnected after deleting the vertex k.
This means that the kinematic chain has a fractionated degree of freedom with k as
a separation link. A non zero ijth entry in R, indicates that vertex j is reachable
from vertex i efficiently and vice versa in the graph of A via a path (n-2) or fewer
edges. If there are no zero entries in Rk, proceed to the next step.

5. If k is the only row in A, with more than three non-zero entries we conclude that
there are no cut vertices in the graph and the chain does not have a fractionated
degree of freedom and does not represent a fractionated chain. Otherwise repeat
the steps 2 to 4 with other rows consisting of more than three non-zero entries in
them. This procedure repeats until there are no more such rows in the matrix. If the
test is not satisfied for all such rows we conclude that the chain cannot have a
fractionated degree of freedom. It may have partial or total freedom.

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 Figure 4.1: Nine Link kinematic Chain[5]

4.3 Test for partial degree of freedom

After finding the chain does not have a fractionated degree of freedom, we can test for
partial freedom. It has been proved that a kinematic chain with degree of freedom greater
than three and consisting of more than one simple circuit (which is indicated by the
number of joints being greater than the number of links) cannot have total degree of
freedom and hence can have only partial or fractionated degree of freedom [1]. For such
chains, if they do not satisfy the preceding test for fractionated degree of freedom we
conclude that they have partial degree of freedom. Hence the proposed tests for partial
degree of freedom need to be applied for two and three degree of freedom chains. The
following results from Davis [1] will form the basis of our algebraic tests for determining
whether a chain has a partial degree of freedom or not.

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 Chapter 5

FLOWCHART

Figure 5.1: Flowchart for Identification of types of degree of freedom

19
Initially, we need to create an adjacency matrix using the number of links and joints
which is taken as input from the user to test for a fractionated degree of freedom the
following step is used.

1. Check adjacency matrix A for the number of rows with more than three non-zero
entries in them.
2. Obtained matrix Ai, by deleting the row and column from matrix A where ith row
has more than three non-zero entries.
3. Compute Reachability Ri = I + Ai + Ai2 + Ai3 + …. + Ain-2 . where I is an Identity
matrix of size n - 1 × n - 1, n is the number of links.

Rk are carried out as per Boolean algebra that is. 1+1=1, 1+0=1, 0+1=1, 1×0=0,
0×1=0, 1×1=1.

4. Check for the presence of zeros in Ri. There are no zeros in Ri. So the chain does
not have any fractionated degree of freedom.

Now to test for partial degrees of freedom the following step is used.

1. Check if the given Kinematic chain has a degree of freedom greater than three.[2]
2. Check if the given Kinematic chain has more than one simple circuit, that is the
number of links should be greater than the number of joints.

If any of the above conditions is true then the given kinematic chain has a partial degree
of freedom.

Now, to test for full degree of freedom, if the test for fractionated degree of freedom and
partial degree of freedom fails, it can be concluded that the given kinematic chain has full
degree of freedom.

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 Chapter 6

PSEUDO CODE

6.1 Importing Libraries

A Python library is a collection of related modules. It contains bundles of code that can
be used repeatedly in different programs. It makes Python Programming simpler and
convenient for the programmer. As we don’t need to write the same code again and again
for different programs. Python libraries play a very vital role in fields of Machine
Learning, Data Science, Data Visualization, etc.

NumPy

NumPy is a general-purpose array-processing package. It provides a high-performance

multidimensional array object, and tools for working with these arrays. It is the
fundamental package for scientific computing with Python(Code 3.1).

Code 6.1: Importing numpy library

6.2 Creating Adjacency Matrix

An adjacency matrix is a way of representing a graph as a matrix of booleans (0's and

1's). A finite graph can be represented in the form of a square matrix on a computer,
where the boolean value of the matrix indicates if there is a joint between two links(Code
3.2).

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 Code 6.2: Creating Adjacency matrix

6.3 Test for Fractionated degree of freedom

For every iteration, check if the sum of ith row in graph is greater than three, if true delete
ith row and column. Now calculate to reachability assign reachability identity matrix of
size n - 1, now calculate reachability using the below formula,

Ri = I + A i + A i2 + A i3 + …. + A in-2

where R is reachability, A i is graph with ith column and ith row removed[2].

summation is done with the help of a for loop. Now check if the sum of the reachability
matrix is less than (n - 1) × (n - 1), if it is true then the given kinematic chain has a
fractionated degree of freedom then flow of execution will flow out of the function and
return true. If not, the same thing is repeated for (i + 1)th row and so on. Else the function
will return false(Code 3.3).

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 Code 6.3: Test for fractionated degree of freedom

6.4 Test for partial degree of freedom

Calculate degree of freedom using grubbler’s equation[6], then check if the given
kinematic chain has more than one simple circuit that is number of links is greater than
number of joints or if degree of freedom is greater than 3, if any of the condition is true
then given kinematic chain has partial degree of freedom and return true from the
function else the function will return false.

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 Code 6.4: Test for partial degree of freedom

6.5 Test for full degree of freedom

If the test for fractionated degree of freedom and test for partial degree of freedom fails
which implies both the function will return false then flow of execution will enter the else
block which implies that the given kinematic chain has full degree of freedom.

Code 6.5: Test for full degree of freedom

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 Chapter 7
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The Jupyter notebook is used as the User Interface. First the user needs to enter the
number of links and number of joints(j), then the user needs to enter j edges that are in
the form of u , v where u and v represent links and represent that link u and v are
connected by a joint. Then code creates an adjacency matrix using these edges then it will
test for fractionated, partial or full degree of freedom. Whichever test is true the program
will give that output.

Example 1

Figure 7.1: Nine Link Fractionated Chain with DOF 2[5]

25
 Figure 7.2: Output for Figure 7.1 kinematic chain

Example 2

Figure 7.3: Seven link kinematic chain with DOF 2[3]

26
 Figure 7.4: Output for Figure 7.3 kinematic chain

Example 3

Figure 7.5: Fourteen link kinematic chain with DOF 1[2]

27
Figure 7.6: Output for Figure 7.5 kinematic chain

28
Example 4

Figure 7.7: Eight link kinematic chain with DOF 3[5]

Figure 7.8: Output for Figure 7.7 kinematic chain

29
Example 5

Figure 7.9: Nine link kinematic chain with DOF 2[3]

Figure 7.10: Output for Figure 7.9 kinematic chain

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 Chapter 8

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Finding the mobility and the mechanism of the given kinematic chain. We strongly
believe that this method is able to identify the type of freedom of two and three degree of
freedom planar kinematic chains, up to any number of links. The main advantage of this
method over other previous methods is that this method is extremely simple in its process
and of time savvy nature with perfect reliability from the point of view of results. A
further study is required for analysis of non planar kinematic chains.

As we have seen, we have taken only planar kinematic chains for our discussion and
method to Identify types of DOF using the existing knowledge of Identify types of DOF
and the methodology.An efficient method can be proposed in future which can find types
of DOF in chain.

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 REFERENCES

[1] Ashik Dargar, R A Khan , Mobility analysis of Kinematic chain, June 2010.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275906630.

[2] Preeti Gulia, Vijay pal Singh, Structural Analysis and Mobility Test of Fourteen Links
Kinematic Chain Using Graph Theory, July 2014.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269370318.

[3] A. Liberati, N.P. Belfiore ,A method for the identification of the connectivity in
multi-loop kinematic chains: Analysis of chains with total and partial mobility , 18th
April- 2006.

[4] V. P. Agrawal And J. S. Rao Fractionated Freedom Kinematic Chains And Mechanisms
1987.

[5] Shubham verma, Structural analysis of kinematic chains and mechanisms, May-2015.

[6] Rajesh Pavan Sunkari, Structural Synthesis And Analysis Of Planar And Spatial
Mechanisms Satisfying Gruebler’s Degrees Of Freedom Equation, 2006..

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