Five Precision Points Synthesis of Spatial RRR Manipulators Using Interval Analysis

Abstract

In this paper, the geometric design problem of serial-link robot manipulators with three revolute (R) joints is solved for the first time using an interval analysis method. In this problem, five spatial positions and orientations are defined and the dimensions of the geometric parameters of the 3-R manipulator are computed so that the manipulator will be able to place its end-effector at these pre-specified locations. Denavit and Hartenberg parameters and 4×4 homogeneous matrices are used to formulate the problem and obtain the design equations and an interval method is used to search for design solutions within a predetermined domain. At the time of writing this paper, six design solutions within the search domain and an additional twenty solutions outside the domain have been found.