Abstract
In this paper, the optimal redundancy utilization of articulated robot arms is discussed. Concerning redundancy utilization of robot arms, the momentary optimal control scheme has been proposed so far, where the null spaces of Jacobian matrices are made optimal use of instantaneously. However, it is not enough when the exact optimality covering the full working time is required. For examples, the energy saving motion is required for robot manipulators of space use. The successful motion may not be always obtained for obstacle avoidance problem in the working space with complicated obstacles, if we apply the momentary optimal control scheme.
The globally optimal control scheme of redundancy is formulated based on Maximum Principle. By applying this scheme, the optimal solution is necessarily obtained, if it exists. And the amount of computation is reduced to one dimensional search for the minimum value when the degree of redundancy is equal to one.
