PARALLEL VLSI ARCHITECTURES FOR REAL-TIME KINEMATICS OF REDUNDANT ROBOTS

We describe new architectures for the efficient computation of redunda nt manipulator kinematics (direct and inverse). By calculating the cor e of the problem in hardware, we can make full use of the redundancy b y implementing more complex self-motion algorithms. A key component of our architecture is the calculation in the VLSI hardware of the Singu lar Value Decomposition of the manipulator Jacobian. Recent advances i n VLSI have allowed the mapping of complex algorithms to hardware usin g systolic arrays with advanced computer arithmetic algorithms, such a s the coordinate rotation (CORDIC) algorithms. We use CORDIC arithmeti c in the novel design of our special-purpose VLSI array, which is used in computation of the Direct Kinematics Solution (DKS), the manipulat or Jacobian, as well as the Jacobian Pseudoinverse. Application-specif ic (subtask-dependent) portions of the inverse kinematics are handled in parallel by a DSP processor which interfaces with the custom hardwa re and the host machine. The architecture and algorithm development is valid for general redundant manipulators and a wide range of processo rs currently available and under development commercially.