Inverse kinematics for robot manipulators based on incremental unit computation method

This paper adopts an incremental unit computation method to obtain the inverse kinematics of a three-axis articulated robot. This method starts by defining incremental units in joint and Cartesian spaces, which represent the position resolutions in each space. With this approach the calculation of the inverse Jacobian matrix can be realized through a simple combinational logic gate. Furthermore, the incremental direct kinematics can be solved by using a digital differential analyzer integrator. The hardware architecture to implement the algorithm is also described. Through applying the hardware realized by an erasable programmable logic device to the straight-line trajectory of an experimental robot, the end effector's maximum speed of 12.6 m/s has been obtained.