Abstract
A new approach to the dynamic analysis of a manipulator arm interacting with the environment is presented. Inertial properties of the manipulator arm and the end effector viewed from the environment are analyzed. It is found that, under a certain condition, there exists a particular point on the end effector, at which a linear force causes only a linear acceleration in the end effector, while a moment causes only an angular acceleration. The point is similar to the centroid of a single rigid body, hence referred to as the generalized centroid of the arm-and-end-effector system. The inertial properties are also characterized by the virtual mass, which is defined to be the equivalent mass of the arm and the end effector reflected to a point of interest.
The developed analytic tools are then applied to task planning and end effector design with emphasis on deburring and assembly. The orientation of a tool and the configuration of the manipulator arm are optimized in such a way that the arm-and-tool system possesses an appropriate virtual mass and the generalized centroid at an appropriate point.
