Path Planning and Co-Simulation Control of 8 DOF Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm

In this research article a kinematic equation for 8 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) anthropomorphic robotic arm was developed and it is modelled using Pro-E software and invoked in ADAMS software tool for further analysis. A cubic path planning algorithm is mathematically derived for actuating the joints and simulated using the MATLAB environment for proper joint motions. With the help of MATLAB/ADAMS Co-Simulation environment the robotic arm invoked in ADAMS model is actuated using the path planning algorithm written in MATLAB environment. The robotic arm traversed the desired trajectory effectively, which confirms the effectiveness of the path planning and control algorithm. These simulated results were used to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the robot arm and gave us a clear insight about the parameters like torque, joint position, velocity and acceleration of the robotic arm and the results have been discussed in detail. This research article is a part of a real time humanoid robot research project titled – RALA (Robot based on Autonomous Learning Algorithm). (Received in July 2015, accepted in November 2015. This paper was with the authors 1 month for 2 revisions.)