Fundamentals Of Robotic Mechanical Systems

Mechanical engineering, an engineering discipline borne of the needs of the industrial revolution, is once again asked to do its substantial share in the call for industrial renewal. The general call is urgent as we face profound is sues of productivity and competitiveness that require engineering solutions, among others. The Mechanical Engineering Series features graduate texts and research monographs intended to address the need for information in contemporary areas of mechanical engineering. The series is conceived as a comprehensive one that covers a broad range of concentrations important to mechanical engineering graduate education and research. We are fortunate to have a distinguished rost er of consulting editors on the advisory board, each an expert in one the areas of concentra tion. The names of the consulting editors are listed on the next page of this volume. The areas of concentration are: applied mechanics; biome chan ics; computational mechanics; dynamic systems and control; energetics; mechanics of materials; processing; thermal science; and tribology.

This book deals with robots - such as remote manipulators, multifingered hands, walking machines, flight simulators, and machine tools - that rely on mechanical systems to perform their tasks. It aims to establish the foundations on which the design, control and implementation of the underlying mechanical systems are based. The treatment assumes familiarity with some calculus, linear algebra, and elementary mechanics; however, the elements of rigid-body mechanics and of linear transformations are reviewed in the first chapters, making the presentation self-contained. An extensive set of exercises is included and this new edition incorporates numerous advances.

The book explores the fundamental issues of robot mechanics for both the analysis and design of manipulations, manipulators and grippers, taking into account a central role of mechanics and mechanical structures in the development and use of robotic systems with mechatronic design. It examines manipulations that can be performed by robotic manipulators. The contents of the book are kept at a fairly practical level with the aim to teach how to model, simulate, and operate robotic mechanical systems. The chapters have been written and organized in a way that they can be red even separately, so that they can be used separately for different courses and purposes. The introduction illustrates motivations and historical developments of robotic mechanical systems. Chapter 2 describes the analysis and design of manipulations by automatic machinery and robots; chapter 3 deals with the mechanics of serial-chain manipulators with the aim to propose algorithms for analysis, simulation, and design purposes; chapter 4 introduces the mechanics of parallel manipulators; chapter 5 addresses the attention to mechanical grippers and related mechanics of grasping.

Robotics engineering has progressed from an infant industry in 1961 to one including over 500 robot and allied firms around the world in 1989. During this growth period, many robotics books have been published, so me of which have served as industry standards. Until recently, the design of robotics sys tems has been primarily the responsibility of the mechanical engineer, and their application in factories has been the responsibility of the manufacturing engineer. Few robotics books address the many systems issues facing electron ics engineers or computer programmers. The mid-1980s witnessed a major change in the robotics field. The develop ment of advanced sensor systems (particularly vision), improvements in the intelligence area, and the desire to integrate groups of robots working together in local work cells or in factory-wide systems have greatly increased the partic ipation of electronics engineers and computer programmers. Further, as ro bots ga in mobility, they are being used in completely new areas, such as construction, firefighting, and underwater exploration, and the need for com puters and smart sensors has increased. Fundamentals af Rabaties Engineering is aimed at the practicing electrical engineer or computer analyst who needs to review the fundamentals of engi neering as applied to robotics and to understand the impact on system design caused by constraints unique to robotics. Because there are many good texts covering mechanical engineering topics, this book is limited to an overview of those topics and the effects they have on electrical design and system pro grams.

Fundamentals of Robotics presents the basic concepts of robots to engineering and technology students and to practicing engineers who want to grasp the fundamentals in the growing field of robotics.

A comprehensive review of the principles and dynamics of robotic systems Dynamics and Control of Robotic Systems offers a systematic and thorough theoretical background for the study of the dynamics and control of robotic systems. The authors—noted experts in the field—highlight the underlying principles of dynamics and control that can be employed in a variety of contemporary applications. The book contains a detailed presentation of the precepts of robotics and provides methodologies that are relevant to realistic robotic systems. The robotic systems represented include wide range examples from classical industrial manipulators, humanoid robots to robotic surgical assistants, space vehicles, and computer controlled milling machines. The book puts the emphasis on the systematic application of the underlying principles and show how the computational and analytical tools such as MATLAB, Mathematica, and Maple enable students to focus on robotics’ principles and theory. Dynamics and Control of Robotic Systems contains an extensive collection of examples and problems and: Puts the focus on the fundamentals of kinematics and dynamics as applied to robotic systems Presents the techniques of analytical mechanics of robotics Includes a review of advanced topics such as the recursive order N formulation Contains a wide array of design and analysis problems for robotic systems Written for students of robotics, Dynamics and Control of Robotic Systems offers a comprehensive review of the underlying principles and methods of the science of robotics.

A modern and unified treatment of the mechanics, planning, and control of robots, suitable for a first course in robotics.

Written for senior level or first year graduate level robotics courses, this text includes material from traditional mechanical engineering, control theoretical material and computer science. It includes coverage of rigid-body transformations and forward and inverse positional kinematics.