The Application of Curvature Theory to the Trajectory Generation Problem of Robot Manipulators

Abstract

This paper illustrates a new application of planar curvature theory to the geometric problem of trajectory generation by a two-link manipulator. The theory yields the instantaneous speed ratio, and the rate of change of the speed ratio, which correspond to the geometry of a desired point trajectory. Separate from the purely geometric speed ratio problem (i.e., the coordination problem) is the time based problem of controlling the joint rates in order to move with the specified path variables.