On the kinematic conditioning of robotic manipulators

Abstract

The notions of manipulator layout, layout center, layout length, and layout conditioning for any serial-type robotic manipulators are discussed. The motivation behind these concepts is the devising of a kinetostatic performance index to serve in the optimum dimensioning of the geometric parameters of serial manipulators. Based on these definitions, a measure of manipulator conditioning is devised that is highly suited for the intended tasks of manipulator design. Moreover, this performance index is substantially less expensive to compute than other measures of kinematic conditioning.