A planar three-degree-of-freedom robot is designed and fabricated with a built-in forward an inverse kinematic algorithm. The robot may be programmed to generate planar enveloping curves; in the generator (tool) is an infinite line. Several examples are presented to illustrate the forward and inverse design of this particular planar robot for generation of algebraic curves.>

In this study the dynamic response of a planar 2-R robot with flexible joints is investigated. Servo stiffness and damping are modeled along with the stiffness and material damping of the drive system. The total system equations are derived and solved for three numerical examples. It is shown that the servo damping plays an important role in the dynamic behavior of the system. Future studies in this subject are discussed.

A critical modeling of a flexible manipulator will involve a thorough understanding of the issues specific to flexible manipulator performance and an experimental investigation of a physical system. A comprehensive dynamic model of a flexible manipulator has been presented in this paper together with a preliminary experimental investigation that examines the performance of this comprehensive model. The analytical model recognizes in particular, the coupling characteristics of the deformations in a flexible manipulator configuration and realizes an efficient and dedicated finite element scheme to model general spatial manipulator configurations with revolute and prismatic pairs. The experimental results indicate a favorable level of performance for the application of the special finite element for a practical manipulator.

This paper reviews the state of the art in estimating the three dimensional motion parameters of a robot end-effector executing space motion using a vision system. The emphasis is on methods based on geometry. A procedure to evaluate the "image invariants" based on four point correspondence of projective geometry is shown. This paper also draws attention to the analogous properties between the image invariants and the instantaneous invariants of theoretical kinematics.It is believed that the concepts of theoretical kinematics can be used to advance the state of the art in estimating the three-dimensional motion parameters.

The problem encountered with coordination of two industrial robots are discussed. Some possibilities of incorporation of "Artificial Intelligence (AI)" with two arm coordination of industrial robots are considered. Also, employment of "natural language" interaction with the user is briefly discussed. Two cartesian 3-axis robot arms are considered in a common complex environment. The basic pick-and-place and assembly tasks are analyzed when performed by two robots. A simple example of a two-arm robotic work environment is illustrated by implementation of a simple game.

Based on the Robotic Workspace analysis and synthesis theories, an In-Vivo spinal kinematic instrument (SKI) has been designed, fabricated and tested to demonstrate its applications in evaluating surgical corrections of scoliotic spine in the operating room, This paper presents the design data of the instrument and demonstrates the application of the instrument to collect data describing the vertebral alignment of a scoliotic spine in three dimensions, before and after surgical corrections. The clinical importance of the instrument is discussed. The use of the instrument by the surgeon to compare relative efficiency of various surgical techniques involving Harrington rod, Luque rods and Dwyer apparatus etc. is emphasized.

In this paper, a general dynamic analysis technique is presented. This technique utilizes the finite element method in solving for internal system forces and joint deflections. The technique considers forward and inverse dynamic analyses. In the forward analysis, the inertial loads are determined using the known acceleration vector. In the inverse analysis, the accelerations of the driven coordinates is determined by solving the dynamic equilibrium equations of the system. The position and velocity vectors are obtained by integrating the acceleration vector. It is shown that this integration procedure can be generalized for multidegree of freedom systems. The location and nature of the driving forces can be modeled to be independent of the system coordinates. Examples are presented to illustrate the analysis technique and its features.

A finite element based, nonlinear model is presented in this paper for revolute jointed spatial manipulators. The model allows for the nonlinear coupling effects between the nonlinear gross motions of the manipulator links and their elastic deformations. The governing equations of motion are derived including the effects of rotatory inertia, shear deformation, and the effects of the gross non-linear motion of each of the links. A simple and efficient finite element has been developed for the manipulator links using Timoshenko Beam Theory. The resulting methodology is shown to identify the effects of the nonlinear interactions on the dynamic positioning characteristics of the manipulator.