The kinematics for redundantly actuated omnidirectional mobile robots

Omnidirectional mobile robots have been popularly employed in several application areas. However, the kinematics and singularity analysis for these systems have not been clearly identified, especially for the redundantly actuated case, which is common in current omnidirectional mobile robots. In light of this fact, this article introduces two different kinematic approaches for a typical omnidirectional mobile robot having three caster wheels, and examines singularity configurations of such systems. Then, a singularity-free load-distribution scheme for a redundantly actuated three-wheeled omnidirectional mobile robot is proposed. Through simulation, several advantages of the redundantly actuated mobile robot (singularity avoidance, input-load saving, and exploiting several subtasks) are presented. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[1]  Robert F. Cromp,et al.  The design of an autonomous vehicle for the disabled , 1986, IEEE J. Robotics Autom..

[2]  Vincent Hayward,et al.  Generating robust trajectories in the presence of ordinary and linear-self-motion singularities , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[3]  Byung-Ju Yi,et al.  Geometric analysis of antagonistic stiffness in redundantly actuated parallel mechanisms , 1993, J. Field Robotics.

[4]  William Whittaker,et al.  Nomad: a demonstration of the transforming chassis , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[5]  Joseph Duffy,et al.  A Direct Determination of the Instantaneous Kinematics of Fully Parallel Robot Manipulators , 1985 .

[6]  Charles P. Neuman,et al.  Kinematic modeling of wheeled mobile robots , 1987, J. Field Robotics.

[7]  Jean-Pierre Merlet.  Singular Configurations of Parallel Manipulators and Grassmann Geometry , 1989, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[8]  John F. Gardner,et al.  Kinematics of redundantly actuated closed chains , 1990, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[9]  D. Tesar,et al.  Dynamic modeling of serial and parallel mechanisms/robotic systems. Part I. Methodology , 1988 .

[10]  Dinesh K. Pai,et al.  A mobile manipulator , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.99CH36288C).

[11]  K. H. Hunt,et al.  Kinematic geometry of mechanisms , 1978 .

[12]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Instantaneous Kinematics of Parallel-Chain Robotic Mechanisms , 1992 .

[13]  Shin'ichi Yuta,et al.  DEVELOPMENT OF A MOBILE ROBOT FOR SECURITY GUARD. , 1985 .

[14]  J. Michael McCarthy,et al.  Conditions for line‐based singularities in spatial platform manipulators , 1998 .

[15]  Georges Bastin,et al.  Structural properties and classification of kinematic and dynamic models of wheeled mobile robots , 1996, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[16]  Yoshihiko Nakamura,et al.  Dynamics computation of closed-link robot mechanisms with nonredundant and redundant actuators , 1989, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[17]  Johann Borenstein.  Control and kinematic design of multi-degree-of freedom mobile robots with compliant linkage , 1995, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[18]  Mahmoud Tarokh,et al.  Kinematic modeling of a high mobility Mars rover , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.99CH36288C).

[19]  François G. Pin,et al.  A new family of omnidirectional and holonomic wheeled platforms for mobile robots , 1994, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..