Abstract
This paper presents an LSI-oriented high-performance processor for the inverse kinematics to control the position and orientation of the end-effector of a robot. It is well known that a geometric approach is useful in finding such joint angles. To achieve the high-speed transformation, a new hardware algorithm based on the coordinate rotation is proposed which can be implemented by the CORDIC technique. By means of the algorithm, an inverse-kinematic processor is designed which has attractive features of high-speed, compactness, and flexibility for any kinds of manipulators. The processor has been implemented on the breadboard using TTL-IC's in order to confirm the operation. Assuming the 2μm CMOS technology, the chip evaluation of the processor is discussed from the viewpoint of the speed and chip area. Although the hardware size is almost same as that of an 8-bit one-chip microcomputer, ultra-high-speed transformation can be achieved. As a result, it is established that the inverse kinematic processor is very effective for the practical applications.
