General kinematic synthesis method for a Discretely Actuated Robotic Manipulator (D-ARM)

A "Discretely Actuated Robotic Manipulator", or "D-ARM", is any member of a class of robotic manipulators powered by actuators such as solenoids that have only discrete stable positional states. One of the most significant kinematic phenomena of D-ARMs is the discreteness of both input range and end-effector frames. The main characteristics of D-ARMs are: stability at each state without the need for a feedback loop; high task repeatability; mechanism simplicity; minimal supporting devices; low cost. These are strong advantages for manufacturing automation; mobile robots; space structures; micro/nano mechanisms. The proposed design method is based on an incremental kinematic synthesis of a base-line manipulator using a numerically obtained Jacobian matrix and its generalized inverse matrix. The significance of this method is that it deals with a set of inverse kinematic problems on the Special Euclidean group in three space, SE(3), instead of one on the Euclidean space, R-3. The conducted simulations demonstrate the feasibility of the synthesis method.