REAL-TIME INVERSE KINEMATICS FOR ROBOTS WITH OFFSET AND REDUCED WRIST

The paper deals with the inverse transformation of coordinates for rob otic manipulators with high payload capacity, which are widely used in welding applications. Such manipulators are usually equipped with 3 d .o.f. offset wrists or 2 d.o.f reduced wrists, that do not satisfy the Pieper condition that ensures the existence of a closed-form solution of the inverse kinematics. Two reliable iterative algorithms are prop osed to solve the problem in real time. The algorithms have been imple mented in commercial robot controllers and software packages for the c omputer-aided design of welding robotic cells. Copyright (C) 1997 Else vier Science Ltd.