Automated geneartion of the D–H parameters for configuration design of modular manipulators

Analysis models are to describe the relationships between design variables and robotic Kinematic and Dynamic (K&D) behaviors. In designing modular robotic system configuration, design variables are identified through the description of the modular system architecture. Once the design variables have been determined, two alternative ways can be employed to build K&D models from design variables: direct modeling and indirect modeling. The first method builds up the K&D model directly based on design variables of the modular architecture, while the second method builds up the K&D model based on a set of the D–H parameters, which is derived from design variables. The advantage of the second method is that most of analysis theories and tools, which were developed in designing non-modular robotic configurations, can be utilized directly for designing modular robotic configurations. In this paper, we propose a more general architecture of modular manipulator systems. Based on this new architecture, we propose a systematic procedure to generate a mapping from modular design variables and the configuration description in terms of the D–H notation.