Online methods for path planning of kinematically redundant manipulators

In this article a method Sor online kinematic path planning of kinematicall y redundant manipulators is presented. Efficiency is acchieved by mapping t he manipulator path planning problem to a path planning problem of the ende ffector which has a smaller number of degrees of freedom. The method is bas ed on an optimal solution procedure of the problem of Inverse Kinematics. W ith that feasible manipulator joint positions are generated in real-time wh ile the actual endeffector goal, i.e. the path, is commanded online. This c an efficiently be handled by the concept of 'Affine Manipulability'. The jo int position path is feasible with regard to technical constraints like col lision avoidance, joint limitations, and maximum joint velocities. Kinemati c redundancy is resolved by means of an iterative optimization method, whic h is based on minimizing special costs like minimum energy and maximum mani pulability. The validity of the presented method is verified by a kinematic ally redundant robot with ten degrees of freedom.