DYNAMICALLY LINEARIZED, KINEMATICALLY REDUNDANT SPATIAL MANIPULATOR

THERE IS A NATIONAL NEED FOR ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS HAVING GREATER DEXTERITY AND FASTER MECHANICAL AND NUMERICAL SPEED AND ACCURACY THEN THOSE PRESENTLY IN EXISTENCE. KINEMATICALLY REDUNDANT MANIPULATORS TYPICALLY INCREASE DEXTERITY AT THE EXPENSE OF COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY DUE TO THE NEED FOR EXTENSIVE NUMERICAL OPTIMIZATION. THE CRITICAL NEED FOR A KINEMATICALLY REDUNDANT MANIPULATOR AMENABLE TO REAL-TIME OPTIMIZATION AND CONTROL HAS YET TO BE MET. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO INVESTIGATE A PROMISING THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT WHICH COULD LEAD TO ADVANCED MANIPULATOR CONCEPTS OFFERING FAST DYNAMIC AND CONTROL FEATURES. SPECIFICALLY THIS RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE THE APPLICATION OF "DYNAMIC LINEARIZATION" TO KINEMATICALLY REDUNDANT SPATIAL MANIPULATORS TOWARDS THE END OF DETERMINING THE FEASIBILITY OF DEXTEROUS ROBOTS EXHIBITING BOTH HIGH MECHANICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SPEED. PHASE I RESEARCH IS ENTIRELY ANALYTICAL. NUMERICAL CODES WILL BE DEVELOPED AND EXTENSIVE SIMULATIONS WILL BE RUN TO COMPARE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PROPOSED MANIPULTOR TO TWO NON-REDUNDANT MANIPULATORS HAVING EQUIVALENT WORKSPACES. THE RESULTING ANALYSIS WILL PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE FEASIBILITY OF A PROMISING, ADVANCED MANIPULATOR CONCEPT HAVING A WIDE RANGE OF POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS.