Dynamics Simulation and Assembly Environment for Rapid Manipulator Design

Abstract

Currently, DLR is developing its 3 rd generation of light-weight robots in modular design. This process includes the development of high performance drives, carbon fiber arm structures and novel wrist units. The robotics systems are dedicated for applications on ground as well as for future space missions. The robotic components are stored in a database that can be accessed via an assembly panel inside a simulation environment and enables a system engineer to rapidly design a fully operating concept of a robotic system. One of the design tasks is the definition of the robot kinematics, respectively the number of joints and the sequence of joint axis orientations. For space applications redundant kinematics with at least 7 joints are preferred due to their increased skill performance and flexibility. However, the problem of solving the inverse kinematics increases accordingly to the number of joints. Currently a Lagrange constraint optimization and a method using a differential equation system are provided.