Extension of Euler’s Principal Axes to Articulated Inertia

Abstract

Abstract An effective inertia of a serially jointed chain of bodies, such as a robotic arm, is often referred to as the articulated or operational space inertia. Six principal axes and six principal values of inertia are proposed to decouple articulated inertia into geometric and constitutive properties respectively. In the case of a single rigid body, these concepts naturally coincide with familiar descriptions of inertia.