Motion planning for redundant prismatic-jointed manipulators in the free-floating mode

• Published in: Acta mechanica Sinica 2012-10, Vol.28 (5), p.1449-1456
• Main Authors: Liu, Xiao-Dong, Baoyin, He-Xi, Ma, Xing-Rui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Classical and Continuum Physics; Computational Intelligence; Computer simulation; Engineering; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Jacobian matrix; Manipulators; Motion planning; Orientation; Redundancy; Redundant; Research Paper; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; 关节; 冗余机器人; 差分进化算法; 机械手; 棱柱; 浮动模; 自由浮动; 运动规划
• ISSN: 0567-7718; 1614-3116
• DOI: 10.1007/s10409-012-0099-2

This paper investigates the motion planning of redundant free-floating manipulators with seven prismatic joints. On the earth, prismatic-jointed manipulators could only position their end-effectors in a desired way. However, in space, the end-effectors of free-floating manipulators can achieve both the desired orientation and desired position due to the dynamical coupling between manipulator and satellite movement, which is formally expressed by linear and angular momentum conservation laws. In this study, a tractable algorithm particle swarm optimization combined with differential evolution （PSODE） is provided to deal with the motion planning of redundant free-floating prismatic-jointed manipulators, which could avoid the pseudo inverse of the Jacobian matrix. The polynomial functions, as argument in sine functions are used to specify the joint paths. The co- efficients of the polynomials are optimized to achieve the desired end-effector orientation and position, and simulta- neously minimize the unit-mass-kinetic energy using the redundancy. Relevant simulations prove that this method pro- vides satisfactory smooth paths for redundant free-floating prismatic-jointed manipulators. This study could help to recognize the advantages of redundant prismatic-jointed space manipulators.