A NUMERICAL-METHOD OF PREDETERMINED OPTIMAL RESOLUTION FOR A REDUNDANT MANIPULATOR

A numerical method of predetermined optimal redundancy resolution for a redundant manipulator is proposed. To resolve redundancy, a performa nce index is optimized globally in time. Instead of deriving the neces sary condition for optimality and searching optimal boundary values, w e predetermine the trajectories of redundant joints in terms of the Nt h partial sum of Fourier series. Then, the optimal coefficients of the Fourier series are determined by using Powell's method. As a result, we can obtain an approximate optimal solution in a desirable homotopy class without topological liftings of paths. To show the validity of t he proposed method, we apply the method to a three-link planar manipul ator and analyze both optimal and extremal solutions by using Fast Fou rier transform (FFT).