Object shape dependent kinematic manipulability measures for shape optimization, path planning, trajectory synthesis and part assembl

The concept of manipulability as a measure of the kinematic transmission characteristics of robot the manipulator is important for path planning, trajectory synthesis, optimal design of the structure of robot manipulators, and optimal design of the shape of the objects to be manipulated for ease of handling in operations such as assembly and mating. All manipulability measures developed to date, consider infinitesimal displacements of a point (or points) on the end-effector in the task coordinate space as functions of infinitesimal displacements in the joint coordinate space. Manipulators, however, are used to manipulate objects. The ability of a manipulator to manipulate a point on its end-effector can hardly be used to determine its capability to manipulate objects of various shapes and sizes. In this thesis, a new class of object shape dependent manipulability measures are presented. The measures are also sensitive to the holding position and orientation of the object with respect to the end-effector.;In this thesis, following an extensive review of the related published literature, a new definition is developed for the distance between two positions of an object and thereby finite and infinitesimal displacements of objects. The measures of distance and displacement are dependent on the shape of the object and its features but are metric and coordinate system independent and as such are shown to constitute a normed space. No rigid body constraint is imposed in the derivations. The object may therefore be deforming, stretching or shrinking during its manipulation. Based on the developed measures, a new class of object shape dependent manipulability measures are then presented. The developed object manipulability measures quantify the ability of a manipulator to displace an object within its workspace. A special case of this manipulability measure is shown to be analogous to manipulability measures developed for end-effector in previous investigations. Based on the developed object manipulability measures, a number of shape optimization, path planning and trajectory synthesis methods are then formulated. Numerous examples are provided to illustrate the potentials of the developed measures and their applications.