General‐purpose inverse kinematics transformations for robotic manipulators

Real‐time robot control requires efficient inverse kinematics transformations to compute the temporal evolution of the joint coordinates from the motion of the end‐effector. The development of a coherent, general‐purpose framework, incorporating position, velocity and acceleration transformations, is the theme of this paper. In this framework, the computational requirements of a new inverse kinematic algorithm are delineated. The algorithm is applicable to serial (open‐chain) manipulators with arbitrary axes of motion. Comparative evaluations of the computational cost of the algorithm demonstrate its efficacy and feasibility for real‐time applications.