Time-optimal constant speed motion program for multiple cooperating manipulators

This article presents a systematic approach for synthesizing the time-optim al constant speed motion program for multiple manipulators moving a commonl y held object along a specified Cartesian trajectory. In this approach, the motion program is constructed by using piecewise polynomials to blend the acceleration, constant speed, and deceleration periods. The polynomials are interpolated according to the boundary and continuity conditions to obtain a smooth and continuous profile. With this formulation, it is shown that t he final form of the motion program can be established in terms of the init ial acceleration, the constant operation speed, and the finial deceleration . The optimum values of these terms to allow the given trajectory to be exe cuted in minimum time are determined based on the parametric dynamic equati ons of the system and the torque constraints of the actuator. This approach is conceptually straightforward and can be applied to various multirobot s ystems with nonlinear actuator constraints. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc .