Solving the Inverse Kinematic Equations of Elastic Robot Arm Utilizing Neural Network

Abstract

The inverse kinematic equation for a robot is very important to the control robot’s motion and position. The solving of this equation is complex for the rigid robot due to the dependency of this equation on the joint configuration and structure of robot link. In light robot arms, where the flexibility exists, the solving of this problem is more complicated than the rigid link robot because the deformation variables (elongation and bending) are present in the forward kinematic equation. The finding of an inverse kinematic equation needs to obtain the relation between the joint angles and both of the end-effector position and deformations variables. In this work, a neural network has been proposed to solve the problem of inverse kinematic equation. To feed the neural network, experimental data were taken from an elastic robot arm for training the network, these data presented by joint angles, deformation variables and end-effector positions. The results of network training showed a good fit between the output results of the neural network and the targets data. In addition, this method for finding the inverse of kinematic equation proved its effectiveness and validation when applying the results of neural network practically in the robot’s operating software for controlling the real light robot’s position.