Manipulability of cooperating robots with unactuated joints and closed-chain mechanisms

In this paper, we study the differential kinematics and the kineto-static m anipulability indices of multiple cooperating robot arms, including active and passive joints. The kinematic manipulability indices are derived extend ing previous results on cooperating robots without passive joints. The forc e manipulability analysis for cooperative robot systems cannot be straightf orwardly derived by "duality" arguments as it can with conventional arms, r ather a distinction between active and passive force manipulability must be introduced. Results in this paper apply directly to the analysis of cooper ating robots, parallel robots, dextrous robotic hands and legged vehicles, and, in general, to closed kinematic chains.