Position Analysis of Serial Manipulators

 Denavit-Hartenberg Homogeneous Transformation Matrices

The (i-1)th coordinate system is rotated around the Zi-1 axis by an angle 𝜃𝑖 and translates along the Zi-1 axis by
a distance 𝑑i:
 Rotation Matrix  Translation Matrix

 Transformation Matrix
* The order of multiplying homogeneous
matrices for rotations and translations
along the same axis does not affect the
calculation results.

Similarly, the displaced (i-1)th coordinate is rotated around the Xi axis by an angle 𝛼𝑖 and translates along the
Xi axis by a distance ai:
 Transformation Matrix

Therefore, the transformation matrix from (i-1)th coordinate system to (i)th can be represented as:

1
[Example 1] 3-DoF Manipulator

D-H Parameters

Joint i αi ai di θi
1

, ,

where
𝑠𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝜃 sin𝜃 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 cos𝜃 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
𝐴 = 𝐴 𝐴 𝐴 =
𝑐𝜃 cos 𝜃 𝜃
𝑠𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝜃 𝜃
𝑐𝜃 cos 𝜃 𝜃 𝜃

- Direct Kinematics
The position vector of the origin Q expressed in the end-effector coordinate system is given by
𝐪 0, 0, 0, 1 . Let the position vector of Q with respect to the base coordinate system be

𝐪 𝑞 , 𝑞 , 𝑞 , 1 . Then we can relate 𝐪 to 𝐪 by the following transformation:

If the angles θ1, are given, the position of point Q can be determined.
Similarly, the position vector of any other point in the end effector, 𝐠 𝑔 , 𝑔 , 0, 1 , is given by

𝑔 𝑔 𝑔 𝑐𝜃 𝑔 𝑠𝜃 𝑎 𝑐𝜃 𝑎 𝑐𝜃 𝑎 𝑐𝜃
𝑔 𝑔 𝑔 𝑠𝜃 𝑔 𝑐𝜃 𝑎 𝑠𝜃 𝑎 𝑠𝜃 𝑎 𝑠𝜃
𝑔 𝐴
0 0
1 1 1

2
[Example 2] Scorbot Robot

D-H Parameters

Joint i αi ai di θi
1
2
3
4
5

, , ,

, ,
𝑢 𝑣 𝑤 𝑞
𝑢 𝑣 𝑤 𝑞
𝐴 𝑤 𝑞
𝑢 𝑣
0 0 0 1
where

1. If a1=50 mm, a2=250 mm, a3=200 mm; d1=280 mm, d5=150 mm; θ1=10∘, θ2= -30∘, θ3= 25∘, θ4= -30∘,
θ5 = -20∘, determine the position of point Q and orientation of the gripper with parameters (𝑞 , 𝑞 ,𝑞 , u, v,
w).

3
[Example 3] SCARA arm

D-H Parameters

Joint i αi ai di θi
1
2
3 0
4

2. Determine the transformation matrices 𝐴 (i=1-4).

3. If a1=300 mm, a2=250 mm; d1=400 mm, d3=150 mm, d4=100 mm ; θ1=30∘, θ2= -30∘, θ4= -10∘,
determine the position vector of Q of the gripper (given by 𝐪 0, 0, 0, 1 ) with respect to Link 0

coordinate system 𝐪 𝑞 ,𝑞 ,𝑞 ,1 .

4
[Example 4] Fanuc S-900W Robot

D-H Parameters

Joint i αi ai di θi

4. Determine all of the transformation matrices 𝐴 .

5. If the position vector of the origin Q expressed in the end-effector coordinate system is given by
𝐪 0, 0, 0, 1 , determine the position vector of Q with respect to the base coordinate system

𝐪 𝑞 ,𝑞 ,𝑞 ,1 .