Motion planning of rhino XR-2 under constraints on hand orientation

Abstract

Motion of robot manipulators is constrained by their arm geometry and work space limitations. The constraint on the hand orientation of articulated-joint manipulator is one of the constraints caused by task requirements in many applications. When it is required to maintain the hand orientation during transfer movement, the motion planning requires the solution of two interrelated problems-grasp planning and midpath trajectory planning. This thesis discusses two methods for grasp planning. The first method is based on the work envelope for a fixed hand orientation, e.g., at horizontal direction. The second method uses a 2D geometric algorithm to find approach angle regions for each via point, then, select a hand orientation from the intersection of the regions. These methods are considered for Rhino XR-2 robot but can actually be applied to other revolute-type manipulators.