Operational space dynamics for modular reconfigurable manipulators

A modular reconfigurable manipulator (MRM) system consists of an inventory of standardized joint and link modules that can be assembled into different manipulator configurations. This paper mainly focuses on the formulation of operational space dynamics for a MRM system. To this end, a configuration-independent geometric modeling approach is employed to formulate the recursive dynamic model for a MRM based on the Newton-Euler method. Consequently, the closed-form dynamic equation in joint space is readily generated. Utilizing the generalized inverse of the Jacobian matrix, the closed-form dynamic model of a MRM expressed in operational space is obtained. The simulation results verify the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.