A Unied Notation for Serial, Parallel, and Hybrid Kinematic Structures

U. Thomas, I. Maciuszek, and F. M. Wahl Institute for Robotics and Process Control, Technical University of Braunschweig Muehlenpfordtstrasse 23, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany, email u.thomas@tu-bs.de
Abstract This paper proposes a new notation for kinematic structures which allows a unied description of serial, parallel, and hybrid robots or articulated machine tools. During the past decades, the well-known Denavit-Hartenberg parameters have been used widely to describe serial kinematics of robots in science and industry. Till now, such a common notation for parallel manipulators has not yet been accepted. This paper tries to ll this gap by presenting a new notation, which is based on the graph representation known from gear trains. In parallel manipulators, spherical and cardan joints are widely used. In order to describe these kinds of joints, the well- known DHparameter notation has been extended, so that, to each joint as many joint variables can be assigned as degrees of freedom exist. The notation is not only very useful for design, programming, and simulation of parallel robots; it also can be applied as a convention to refer to parallel or hybrid kinematic structures elsewhere. Keywords: Parallel Manipulators, Kinematic Notation. N ON -R EDUNDANCY: Multiple notations of a particular property should be avoided. Each property has to be represented once in the specication; C OMPREHENSIVENESS : The notation provided here should be expandable, for instance to describe dynamic parameters, as well. In the following, we propose a notation fullling these requirements while simultaneously reducing the number of parameters necessary to describe spherical or cardan joints. The notation introduced in this paper is used in a big research effort on parallel manipulators in which many mechanical and electrical engineers as well as computer scientists are involved [2]. hence denoting a particular joint and its associated joint variables should be dened well. By now, no widely used common notation simultaneously suitable for serial, parallel, and hybrid manipulators has been established. Thus, there exists a strong demand for a unied notation for parallel and hybrid kinematic structures, which might be as useful as the DenavitHartenberg notation for serial manipulators. This paper proposes a notation by extending the well-known DH-parameters for denoting spherical and cardan joints in the DH-sense as well. It also provides a solution for representing and referring to the kinematic structure of parallel and hybrid manipulators in a unique manner. By specifying such a notation, the following requirements have to be taken into account: C OMPLETENESS : The specication for a notation should provide all kinematic and geometric data of a given structure; U NIQUENESS : An instantiated notation for a particular kinematic structure should refer only to this structure;

1 Introduction During the past decade, parallel manipulators became more popular. Today many of them are employed in industrial applications, for instance for high speed pick and place operations. Currently, many software/hardware tools for parallel robots are under development. E.g. for graphical simulation, motion planning and controlling the kinematic structures of such manipulators need to be described in an appropriate manner. Many scientists use their individual notation for assigning the corresponding joint parameters to different parallel manipulators depending on the problems they face, and on the structures that they describe. For a notation of serial chain segments inside hybrid kinematic structures, they often apply Denavit-Hartenberg parameters [1]. In parallel and hybrid manipulators, frequently spherical and cardan joints are involved. Describing these joint types by DH-parameters leads to a nonunique representation. Furthermore, notating e.g. spherical joints by DH-parameters conveniently results in 3 necessary 4-parameter sets. Moreover, many software tools for parallel manipulators currently are under development. Usually many engineers from various elds are involved in this process,

2 Related Work Mayer and Gosselin [3] use a notation to describe a general Gough-Stewart platform in which they refer to joints by their layers. For describing spherical joints, they employ RPYparameters. Merlet and Gosselin [3, 4] classify parallel kinematic structures into SSM (Simplied Symmetric Manipulators), TSSM (Triangular Simplied Symmetric Manipulators),

and MSSM (Minimal Simplied Symmetric Manipulators). In [5], a closed forward position solution is given for a PPSPmanipulator. They describe spherical joints by three sets of DH-parameters. Merlet [4] gives a notation for spherical joints by three coplanar rotational joints. The notation proposed by us is based on the approach by Belrore and Benedetto [6], who apply graphs to represent serial, parallel, and hybrid redundant kinematic structures with one degree of freedom for each joint. Graphs as shown there have also been applied in the eld of mechanisms and gear trains [7, 8]. For denoting spherical joints we augment the DH-parameters, which has also been mentioned by Veitschegger et al. [9], but just for calibration purposes. In contrast to our proposal, Veitschegger uses a rotation around the y-axis concatenated backwards to the four DH-transformations as extension.

3.1 Notation of Spherical Joints Spherical joints are often described by RPY-parameters, or by three rotational coplanar joints as mentioned in [4]. Using this description, it is possible to obtain a vector with arbitrary orientation in space, i.e. without the orientation around its own axis, Fig.2.

3 Description of Joints with more than one Degree of Freedom Joints with one degree of freedom can be described in a very intuitive manner by DH-parameters (Fig. 1) whereby, to each robot link, one transformation i1 Ti is assigned with:
i1

Figure 2: Notation of spherical joints by Merlet [4] In our approach we extend the DH-parameters so that it is possible to obtain three joint variables for a single spherical joint. For control purposes, it is not essential to specify passive spherical joints by three joint variables, but e.g. for simulation we have to deal with all three degrees of freedom explicitly. Consider the three linked joints depicted in Fig. 3:

Ti = Rot(zi1 , i ) Trans(zi1 , di ) Trans(xi , ai ) Rot(xi , i )

Figure 1: The Denavit-Hartenberg parameters A cylindrical joint possessing two degrees of freedom can also be denoted by this equation with i and di being the joint variables. Other joints with more than one degree of freedom can either be described by several sets of DH-parameters, or by a more complex transformation. The advantages of the second approach are a convenient kind of formulation, a reduction of redundancies and for each joint as many joint variables are available as DoFs exist. Therefore, we propose to describe joints with more than one degree of freedom by augmenting the DH-parameters.

Figure 3: The denition of axis for spherical joints Each spherical joint is characterized by its center point. Furthermore, one can connect these points virtually to obtain normal vectors between the spherical joints. The cross product ni ni1 of the succeeding and preceding joint normals is assigned to be the z-axis; the normal itself represents the x-axis and the y-axis is obtained by applying the right hand rule. The x-axis points toward the succeeding joint. Using this convention, it is possible to assign coordinate systems to spherical joints in a non-ambiguous manner. Therefore, a single extended transformation i1 Ti for a spherical joint consists of ve elementary transformations dened by ve

parameters respectively:
i1 T i

= Rot(zi1 , i ) Trans(zi1 , di ) Rot(y i1 , i ) Trans(xi , ai ) Rot(xi , i )

The DH-parameters have to be augmented by a rotation around the y-axis. Fig. 4 shows a RSR-chain, where each transformation step is depicted for the spherical joint.

Figure 5: Two cardan joints and their corresponding coordinate systems following the extended DH-denition

rotational or prismatic joint axis of joint i+1. For spherical joints, the z-axis is assigned to the cross product of the joint normal vectors ni and ni+1 . The x-axis of link i lies collinear to the joint normal and points toward higher indexed joints. Figure 4: The extended DH-parameters for a spherical joint inside
a RSR-chain

The rst parameter i describes a rotation around the z-axis, di in this case is zero and the third parameter i is the rotation around the y i1 -axis, so that the new x-axis lies collinear to the normal vector of the link. The translation along the x-axis with parameter ai is the distance between the origins of the corresponding coordinate systems. The last rotation around the x-axis determines the third joint variable i . With this transformation the coordinate system which corresponds to the robot link i moves around the sphere with radius ai . Using this denition we are able to describe kinematic chains which consist of a combination of rotational, prismatic or/and spherical joints by a maximum of ve parameters for each robot link. For rotational and prismatic joints we set bi = 0 and obtain the familiar DH-parameters. In order to describe cylindrical joints i and di are the joint variables. 3.2 Cardan Joints Cardan joints can also be described by the notation introduced above. The two degrees of freedom are represented by joint variables i and i . The x-axis of the corresponding coordinate system lies collinear to the normal of the link and points toward higher indexed joints (see Fig. 5). 3.3 Conventions for a Unique Extended DH-Denition In order to dene the coordinate systems uniquely, some conventions are necessary: The origin of the coordinate system i corresponding to link i is located in the joint i + 1. The z-axis of the coordinate system i corresponds to the

The rotational degrees of freedom must be instantiated from the left side in the transform equation above, i.e. if a joint has only one degree of freedom, i is the joint variable, if it has two degrees of freedom i and i are the variables. For spherical joints, i , i and, i with 0 i 180 are the joint variables. 3.4 Examples of the Extended DH-Notation In Fig. 6, Fig. 7, and Fig. 8 some examples of kinematic chains and their extended DH-parameter notations are shown, which are typically used in the design of parallel robots.

Joint i1 i i+1

var var var

d di1 0 0

0 var var

a ai1 ai ai+1

90 var var

Figure 6: A RSS-Chain and its extended DH-parameter sets

Joint i1 i i+1

var 90 var

d 0 var 0

var 90 var

a 0 0 ai+1

var 0 var

Joint i1 i i+1

var 90 var

d 0 var 0

var 90 var

a 0 0 ai+1

0 0 var

Figure 7: A SPS-Chain and its extended DH-parameter sets 4 Notation of a Universal Robot A notation of kinematic structures should be applicable to serial, parallel, and hybrid robots. Fig. 9 left shows a Hexa-robot and its kinematic structure (Fig. 9 middle) . The graph shown in Fig. 9 right can be obtained, if we map robot links to nodes of the graph and robot joints to graph edges. By this way, links with multiple connections are represented by nodes in a non-ambiguous manner. If we map joints to nodes and links to edges, we would obtain an ambiguous denition of the tool and the base platform. Formally, a kinematic graph or a kinematic net of a universal robot UR can be described by a 4-tuple UR :=< N, E, BF, T F > where N is the set of nodes, E is the set of edges, BF and T F are used for specifying the robot tool and the base frame. The kinematic graph is attributed by the following items: N :=< n1 , . . . , nn > is a set of nodes. A node represents a physical connection between at least two joints. It corresponds to a robot link and consequently to its geometric entity. A node is dened by a tuple ni :=< Slink|Mlink|Base|Tool,CSGi > . Slink means one connection between two joints, Mlink represents multiple connections to more than two joints and Base and Tool are used for the base and tool platform respectively. CSGi is the constructive solid geometry model or any other CAD-representation for the robot link i. E :=< e1 , . . . , em > is a set of edges. Each edge is unidirectional and represents a joint which connects two robot links. Such an edge exists for each joint.

Figure 8: A CPS-Chain and its extended DH-parameter sets The edges ei :=< N pre N post , T f ix,1 , Tparams , T f ix,2 , Type, Range, Flag > are attributed by the following items: N pre N post are pre nodes and post nodes. T f ix,i 44 are xed homogeneous transformations. They are used, for example, to transform the robot base frame into the frame attached to the rst link of a single chain (see Fig. 10). Tparams :=< , d, , a, > describes the parameters for a transformation i1 Ti respective to the extended DH-parameter notation introduced above. The product T f ix,1 i1 Ti T f ix,2 describes the transformation of a single edge. For the transformation from the base frame to the rst joint, T f ix,2 is equal to the identity matrix I and for the transformation from the last joint to the tool T f ix,1 is set to I. In all other cases T f ix,1 and T f ix,2 are the identity matrix I. Type =< rotational|prismatic|spherical| cardan| linear| . . . > describes the type of joint. Range denes the range of each joint. Flag :=< passive, active > is used to mark an active or passive joint. BF :=< F, ni > with F 44 as base frame attached to the base platform represented by the node ni . T F :=< F, n j > with F 44 as tool frame attached to the tool platform represented by node n j . With the notation introduced here, we are able to describe serial, parallel, and hybrid kinematic structures in a systematic and intuitive way. In any case we obtain a directed graph.

Figure 9: The Hexa-robot its layout and its corresponding graph representation or in case of zero by d = (x x , y y , z z )T .
 

and represent the transformation annotated by T f ix,1 i1 Ti T f ix,2 .

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5. Increment the index.

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6. For all unmarked successors continue with step 3. 7. Stop if all nodes have been visited.

Figure 10: The three homogenous transformation for one edge Fig. 11 shows the kinematic layout of the Eclipse [5] and its corresponding directed graph. Fig. 12 demonstrates the use of this representation for the Portys-Robot [2]. As shown, we are able to deal with all kinds of kinematic structures using one common representation. 4.1 An Algorithm for the Enumeration of Nodes In the case when different modules, for example a simulator, a motion planner or a control module, have to exchange data, a systematic way is desired to refer to links and joints in the kinematic graph. The following algorithm assigns indexes to nodes, such that each node obtains a unique number. 1. Unmark all nodes. 2. Start with the node to which the base frame is attached. 3. Assign the current index to the visited node. 4. Sort all unmarked neighbors such that the neighbor with the geometrically shortest distance d is the rst item in the list etc. The distance between two adjacent link coordinate systems and in their home position is dened by d = (x x , y y , z z )T

This algorithm searches the nodes in depth rst order and assigns indexes according to the criteria above.

5 Conclusion The notation suggested here yields a representation which is applicable to serial, parallel, and hybrid kinematic structures. With the extended DH-parameters, we are able to describe spherical, cardan, cylindrical, rotational, and prismatic joints following the well-known intuitive notation by Denavit and Hartenberg. When applying the proposed notation, it is possible to describe spherical or cardan joints with only 5 parameters instead of 3 4 parameters necessary when using the traditional DH-notation. With the suggested graph representation, we can refer any element of any kind of kinematic structure uniquely. The notation suggested here has been used in a kinematical simulation system able to deal with various types of kinematic structures. For storing inertial parameters only the node attributes of the graph representation need to be augmented. Acknowledgment We would like to thank M. Krefft from the Institute of Machine Tools and Production Techniques of the Technical University of Braunschweig for the drafts of the robot pictures in Fig.9 left and Fig.12 left.

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Figure 11: The Eclipse-robot [5] its layout and its corresponding graph representation

Figure 12: The Portys-robot [2] its layout and its corresponding graph representation References [1] J. Denavit and R. S. Hartenberg: A Kinematic Notation for Lower Pair Mechanisms Based on Matrices. ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics Vol. 22, 1955, pp. 215-221. [2] J. Hesselbach, W. Schumacher and F. Wahl: Robot Systems for Object Handling and Assembly. Interdisciplinary Research Program, granted by the German Science Foundation at the Technical University of Braunschweig, 2000. [3] B. Mayer St.-Onge and C.M. Gosselin: Singularity Analysis and Representation of the General Gough-Stewart Platform. The International Journal of Robotics Research Vol. 19, No. 3, March 2000, pp. 271-288. [4] J.-P. Merlet: Parallel Robots. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Bosten, London 2000. [5] W. K. Kim, Y. K. Byun and H. S. Cho: ClosedForward Position Solution for a 6-DoF 3-PPSP Parallel Mechanism and Its Implementation. The International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 20, No. 1, January 2001, pp. 85-99. [6] N. Pio Beliore and Augusto Di Benedetto: Connectivity and Redundancy in Spatial Robots. The International Journal of Robotics Research Vol. 19, No. 12, December 2000, pp. 1245-1261. [7] A. G. Erdmann and G. N. Sandor: Mechanism Design. Analysis and Synthesis. Prentice-Hall, 1991. [8] L. W. Tsai: The Kinematics of Spatial Robotic BevelGear Trains. IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 1988, pp. 150-156. [9] W. K. Veitschegger and C. Wu: A Method for Calibrating and Compensating Robot Kinematic Errors. IEEE International Conference on Robots and Automation, Raleigh, USA, April 1987. [10] U. Thomas and F. M. Wahl: Eine universelle Schnittstelle fuer serielle, parallele und hybride kinematische Strukturen. Tech. Report, Technical University of Braunschweig, April 2001.