Synopses & Reviews
The trends and progress attained in computational kinematics over a broad class of problems are grouped into six parts describing the main themes: kinematics algorithms, discussing kinematics problems in light of their solution algorithms; kinematics of mechanisms, studying problems related to specific mechanisms; singularities; workspace, discussing the determination of the workspace of given mechanisms; parallel manipulators; motion and grasp planning, touching on computational geometry. The volume contains a representative sample of the most modern techniques available for kinetics problems, including techniques based on recent advances in algebraic geometry. Audience: Researchers, graduate students and practising engineers in work relating to kinematics, robotics, machine design and computer science.
Synopsis
The aim of this book is to provide an account of the state of the art in Com- putational Kinematics. We understand here under this term that branch of kinematics research involving intensive computations not only of the nu- merical type, but also of symbolic as well as geometric nature. Research in kinematics over the last decade has been remarkably ori- ented towards the computational aspects of kinematics problems. In fact, this work has been prompted by the need to answer fundamental questions such as the number of solutions, whether real or complex, that a given problem can admit as well as computational algorithms to support geo- metric analysis. Problems of the first kind occur frequently in the analysis and synthesis of kinematic chains, when fine displacements are considered. The associated models, that are derived from kinematic relations known as closure equations, lead to systems of nonlinear algebraic equations in the variables or parameters sought. The algebraic equations at hand can take the form of multivariate polynomials or may involve trigonometric functions of unknown angles.
Table of Contents
Preface.
1. Kinematics algorithms.
2. Kinematics of mechanisms.
3. Singularities.
4. Workspace.
5. Parallel manipulators.
6. Motion and grasp planning.