Direct Kinematics

1
Direct Kinematics

• A robotic manipulator can be modeled as a chain
  of rigid bodies called links
• Two kinds of joints
• Rotational rotational motion about the axis
• Prismatic linear (sliding) motion along the axis
• Objective is to control the position and the
  orientation of the tool in the 3D space with
  respect to the base.
• Direct Kinematics Given the vector of joint
  variables of a robotic arm, determine the
  configuration (i.e. position and orientation) of
  the tool with respect to a coordinate frame
  attached to the robot base.

2
Basic Mathematics

• Dot Product
• Cross Product
• Fundamental rotation
• (notes to be given in class)