The authors present a kinematic measure of global performance for the design evaluation and optimization of robot (redundant) manipulators. The proposed criterion has been applied to optimize each of several different designs of a HERA arm as a redundant manipulator. The results obtained have shown the ability of the proposed approach to establish quantitative kinematic distinctions among a set of designs.>

A dexterity measure is presented which can be used for the design evaluation of robot (redundant) manipulators. The proposed criterion is applied (in an absolute fashion) to the evaluation of the kinematic dexterity of five different designs of a HERA redundant manipulator to be used in space operations. The selection of these designs is based on augmenting the original HERA six-degree-of-freedom design with an extra joint and considering only the resultant manipulators to be capable of avoiding all possible kinds of internal singularity. The results are in agreement with the conclusions from previous subjective studies conducted for the design analysis of an industrial arm as a redundant manipulator.>