Multibody systems and robot dynamics

Abstract

The method of multibody system has been developed during the last two decades with application to various engineering topics, including robotics and walking machines. On the other hand, special algorithms for robot dynamics are available featuring the high computational efficiency required for control purposes. This paper shows the close relation between both approaches. Essential criteria for the effeciency of dynamics software are the numbers of coordinates used, which should be minimal. For illustration a two-body system is considered, including open and cIosed loop configurations.