UNIT IV ROBOT KINEMATICS

AND ROBOT PROGRAMMING

 INTRODUCTION

Robot kinematics studies the relationship between

the dimensions and connectivity of kinematic

chains and the position, velocity and acceleration

of each of the links in the robotic system, in order

to plan and control movement and to compute

actuator forces and torques.

Structure of Robot manipulator
 Structure of Robot manipulator
• Two main parts in the robotic arm are Links
and Joints. A robotic arm is a chain of joints
and links.
 Link in a robot

A link is defined as a single part which can be a resistant body

or a combination of resistant bodies having inflexible

connections and having a relative motion with respect to other

parts of the machine.

A link is also known as a kinematic link or element.

A resistant body is one which does not go under deformation

while transmitting the force

 Link in a robot
There are different division of link in robot.

Rigid link: In this type of link, there will not be any deformation while

transmitting the motion. For example, the industrial robotic arm is

having rigid links, there will not be any deformation while moving the

arm.

Flexible link: In this type of link, there will be a partial deformation while

transmitting the motion. One of the examples of flexible links is belt

drives.

Fluid link: In this type of link, motion is transmitted with the help of fluid

pressure. Hydraulic actuators, brakes are an example of a fluid link.

 Joint in a robot

• A joint is a connection between two or more

links, which allows some motion, or potential
motion, between the connected links. Joints
are also called Kinematic pair.
Joint in a robot
 Degrees of Freedom (D.O.F)

• The Degree of Freedom (D.O.F) is one of the parameters

commonly using to mention the motion capability of a robot.
Here is a simple definition of D.O.F.

• D.O.F is defined as the way in which a robot or machine can

move. The number of degrees of freedom is equal to the total
number of independent displacement or aspects of motion.
 Kinematics
• The Kinematics is a branch of physics and a subdivision of
classical mechanics concerned with the geometrically
possible motion of a body or system of bodies without
consideration of the forces involved.
• Kinematic Chain of robot
– a kinematic chain is an assembly of rigid bodies connected by joints
to provide constrained (or desired) motion that is the mathematical
model for a mechanical system.
Kinematic
Chain of
robot
 Forward and Inverse Kinematics

• Forward kinematics (for a robot arm) takes as input joint

angles and calculates the Cartesian position and orientation of
the end effector. The end-effector/gripper is a device or tool
that connects at the end of a robotic arm.

• Forward kinematics (for mobile robot) takes wheel velocities

and calculate the position and orientation of the robot.
 Forward and Inverse Kinematics

• Inverse kinematics (for a robot arm) takes as input the

Cartesian end-effector position and orientation and
calculates joint angles.

• Inverse kinematics (for a mobile robot) takes the input as

goal position of the robot and calculates the wheel velocities
in order to reach the goal.
 Homogeneous Transformation

The homogeneous transformation matrix, T, which is a 4x4

matrix which represents the transformation of a vector in
homogeneous coordinates with respect to some reference
system, or the relationship between two coordinate reference
systems.
 Homogeneous Transformation
The homogeneous transformation matrix T is composed of four
submatrices:

• • a submatrix R3x3 which corresponds to a typical rotation matrix in

3D space,

• • a submatrix O3x1 which corresponds to a translation vector in 3D

space,

• • a submatrix f1x3 which represents a perspective transformation,

and

• • a submatrix w1x1 which represents a global scaling factor.

 ROBOT PROGRAMMING
Robot Programming Methods
1. The Teach Method

2. Hand Guiding/Lead-Through Programming

3. Offline Robot Programming

The Teach Method
This method involves using a teach pendant to guide the robot through a series
of points and having it store them in memory. The process of guiding and
recording these points or coordinates in space is called teaching in robotics.

A majority of modern industrial robots in the market today come with a teach
pendant that allows even non-engineers to guide the robot and program it to
perform a set of functions as desired. Modern teach pendants are just custom
applications loaded into a special tablet or touchscreen device. It is the most
intuitive and preferred way to program and reprogram industrial robots today.
Hand Guiding/Lead-Through Programming
Hand hiding or lead-through programming involves physically moving the
robot arm over a series of points and axis to “teach” it how to perform a
desired function. For instance, an operator can guide a robot on how to reach
for a tool on a workstation and use it to do some operation. After the
instructions have been recorded by the robot’s memory, it will continue
following the same path on its own.

Hand guiding is especially preferred for smaller modern robots that are
designed to work alongside human operators. These robots can be taught to do
very complex tasks such as painting, sorting items, precision welding,
engraving, etc.
Offline Robot Programming
As the name suggests, this robot programming method involves writing
instructions on a separate system and using virtual models of an industrial
robot for testing. After the instructions have been written and tested, they are
uploaded to the robot’s memory. This method is preferred where a lot of
instructions need to be written and tested before being deployed in real life.

Some of the advantages of offline programming include:

Allows for more complexity

Can lead to more efficient robot operation

Supports precision

Guarantees safety
 ROBOT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
The most popular language in robotics is probably C/C++ (C++
is an object-oriented successor to the C language). Python is also
very popular due to its use in machine learning and also because
it can be used to develop ROS packages

Java. ...

C#/.NET. ...

MATLAB.
ROBOT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
 MOVE command with an example
The movement commands are the most important functions in a robot language. The
MOVE command causes the end of the arm (end effector) to move from its present
position to the point (already defined). The ‘MOVE’ statement generally causes the
arm to move with a joint interpolated motion. The following are few examples of
‘MOVE’ statement.

MOVE P1 - This causes the robot to move in joint interpolation motion from its present
location to location P1.

MOVES P1 - The suffix S stands for straight-line interpolation motion.

MOVE P1 VIA P2-This command instructs the robot to move from its present location
to P1, passing through location P2.

MOVE PATH 1 This command instructs the robot to move through the path defined in
joint interpolation.
 similar programme
Program PICK PLACE

1. DEFINE P1 = POINT (10, 20, 10)

2. DEFINE P2 = POINT (20, 40, 20)

3. DEFINE PATH1= PATH (P2, P1)

4. OPENI

5. MOVE P1

6. MOVE P2

7. CLOSEI 0.00

8. MOVE PATH1

9. OPENI 0.00 END.