Kinematic and Dynamic Modeling of a Robotic

Arm
Alain Chamaken
Master Thesis MA 07/01
University of Kaiserslautern
Departement of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Institute of Control Systems
Supervisors:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steven Liu
Dipl.-Ing. Nadine Stegmann
Dipl.-Ing. Daniel Grges
July 30, 2007

Figure 1: The Mobile Manipulator

Abstract
The application of modern control methods to robotics requires accurate kinematic and dynamic models. A mobile manipulator 1 with a
car-like platform and a five degrees of freedom serial-link robotic arm is
currently being studied at the Institute of Control Systems of the University of Kaiserslautern in the main research foci Embedded Control
Systems and Mobile Robotics. This master thesis was aimed at studying

the kinematics and dynamics of the five degrees of freedom robotic arm
of the mobile manipulator. A kinematic and a dynamic model describing
the motion of the robotic arm, a dynamic model for the actuator including motor, gear and Harmonic Drive, and a position controller to control
the motion of the robotic arm were developed. A geometric approach was
used to solve the inverse kinematics problem and the reduced-order tool
configuration method to determine all singularities of the robotic arm. A
Mathematica package was written to enable symbolic derivation of kinematic and dynamic equations. All relevant kinematic and dynamic parameters were identified using a single axis identification procedure and linear
least-squares algorithms. A model of the robotic arm was implemented in
Simulink and used for simulation and verification of identification results.
Each link of the robotic arm was modeled as a single-input/single-output
(SISO) system. A position controller was implemented in the DSP of the
robotic arm links and successfully tested.

Introduction

Industrial robot manipulators have become an indispensable means of automation to increase flexibility and productivity. Typical applications of industrial
robots include welding, painting, ironing, assembly, pick and place, palletizing,
product inspection, and testing, all accomplished with high endurance, speed
and precision. The increasing quality standards and new applications impose
higher requirements on accuracy, reliability and performance. In order to fulfill
these demands despite of changing load and velocity in the robot workspace,
a control strategy is necessary. Standard industrial controllers neglect however
all nonlinearities in robot dynamics, like centrifugal, gravitational, and Coriolis
forces, friction, motor dynamics, and dynamic couplings between the different
joint axes. This results in deviations from the desired motion. These nonlinearities can be compensated for with new advanced controllers that include
more a priori knowledge of the robot manipulator, e.g. computed torque controllers. The implementation of these advanced control algorithms requires a
good knowledge of the dynamic behavior of the robot manipulator. A practical
difficulty is that the physical values of the manipulator dynamic model are often
not known accurately. Moreover, the mass and inertia properties of the links,
and those of the objects that the manipulator picks up, are not precisely known.
There clearly exists a need for accurate kinematic and dynamic models.

Results

A modular strategy was adopted in this work and three different models of the
robotic arm developed. The idea was to enable the robotic arm to be used as a
2, 3, or 5 degrees of freedom robotic arm thus making is possible to control the
robot using different control strategies. For each link of the robotic arm models,
the complete kinematics including forward kinematics, singularities and inverse
kinematics were analyzed and kinematics models developed using the standard form of the Denavit Hartenberg convention for frame assignment. Link
dynamics and actuator dynamics were analyzed separately. Actuator dynamics
included viscous friction, sliding friction and harmonic drive flexibility. Link and
actuator dynamics were combined to obtain a single joint dynamic model for
2

each link of the robotic arm models. Using a regrouping procedure, the equation
of motion of each link was transformed into a parameter linear form. In order
to facilitate symbolic derivation of kinematics and dynamics equations for the
different models of the robotic arm, the Mathematica package Katana6M180.m
was developed. The package was written in such a ways that users with no or
less knowledge in the field of robotics can use it. All kinematics and dynamics
were derived using the package. Kinematics parameters of the robotic arm were
measured directly on the robot. Estimates of the unknown inertial parameters
of the links were calculated based on the geometry of the links. A single axis
identification procedure was used to estimate the parameters of the links of the
robotic arm models using the linear form of the equation of motion for a link
and linear least-squares algorithms with calculated inertial parameters as initial
estimates. There were 10 parameters to be identified for each link leading to
a total of 50 parameters for the complete robotic arm in Figure 2. Identification results for 10 of the 50 parameters identified are summarized in Table 1.
The error bound between calculated and estimated parameters was very small
and torque prediction confirmed the accuracy of the obtained results. Each
link of the robotic arm models was controlled as a SISO system. A single joint
controller was implemented in the DSPs of the links and successfully used to
demonstrate the accuracy of the developed models.

Figure 2: Kinematic model of the robotic arm

Parameter
M5
M4
M3
M2
M1

Estimated
0.0021
0.0501
0.2465
0.6946
0.3746

Calculated
0.0022
0.0491
0.2520
0.7170
0.3646

Unit
kg/m2
kg/m2
kg/m2
kg/m2
kg/m2

Table 1: Inertial parameters of the robotic arm

Conclusion

In this work, the complete kinematics and dynamics of a five degrees of freedom
robotic arm was developed. Models included nonlinearities and frictions which
are neglected in standard industrial controllers. All parameters of the robotic
arm were accurately estimated and validated. A robust control strategy was
developed and controllers implemented which allowed the robotic arm to follow a
desired motion trajectory with minimal deviation under persistent disturbances.
Methods developed in this work can be applied to all manipulators with serial
kinematic chains.