ROBOTICS

(MEMEC15)

UNIT – 1
Fundamentals of Robots
Outline
▪ Coordinate Frames
▪ Mapping
▪ Description of objects in Space
▪ Transformation of Vectors
 Rotation
 Translation
 Rotation and Translation
 Composite Transformation
▪ Inverting a Homogeneous Transform
▪ Fundamental Rotation Matrices
 Principal Axes Rotation
Coordinates Frames
▪ The manipulator consists of several links and joints
 Coordinated motion

▪ “The modeling of robot comprises of establishing a

special relationship between the manipulator and
the manipulated object”
 Vector and matrix algebra used in this regards

▪ The motion of each link can be described with

respect to a reference coordinate frame and hence it
is convenient to have a coordinate frame attached to
the body of each link
Coordinates Frames
▪ Our conventional 3D coordinate frame:
Coordinates Frames
▪ The point P can be described in vector notation as:

▪ Space frame notation:

▪ 1 represents frame-1
Coordinates Frames
▪ In vector-matrix notation:

▪ Direction cosines:
Mapping
▪ “Mappings refer to changing the description of a
point in space from one frame to another frame”

▪ Three possibilities:
▪ Second frame is rotated w.r.t. the first
▪ Second frame is translated from the first
▪ Second frame is rotated as well as translated
w.r.t. the first
Mapping Between Rotated Frames
▪ Consider the two frames:
Mapping Between Rotated Frames
▪ The problem may be posed as: “The description
of point P in frame-2 is known and its description
in frame-1 is to be found”

▪ We need to find the projections of 2P in frame-1

Mapping Between Rotated Frames
▪ The above relationship can be expressed in
matrix form as:
Mapping Between Rotated Frames
▪ R is known as the rotation matrix or rotational
transformation matrix
▪ Notations are very important

▪ We can extend the discussion to:

Mapping Between Rotated Frames
▪ Some relationships:
Mapping Between Translated
Frames
▪ Consider the two coordinate frames:
Mapping Between Translated
Frames
▪ Vector Relation:

▪ In Familiar Notations:
Mapping Between Translated
Frames
▪ We can have:

▪ Also,

▪ Thus,
Mapping Between Translated
Frames
▪ Rotation and Translation are different mathematically
as well as qualitatively

▪ Rotation matrix is a 3 x 3, whereas translation is

represented by 3 x 1 vector

▪ “A powerful representation of translation is in a 4D

space of homogeneous coordinates”
Mapping Between Translated
Frames
▪ In homogeneous coordinates, a point P is space wrt
frame-1 is denoted as:

▪ σ is a non-zero positive scale factor

Mapping Between Translated
Frames
▪ In homogeneous coordinates, vector-matrix notation
for translation can be expressed as:
Mapping Between Rotated and
Translated Frames
▪ Consider the following two coordinate frames:
Mapping Between Rotated and
Translated Frames
▪ In vector representation:

▪ Intermediate reference frame 1’:

Mapping Between Rotated and
Translated Frames
▪ Now:

▪ Thus:

▪ Finally:
Mapping Between Rotated and
Translated Frames
▪ In homogeneous coordinates:
Generalized Transformation Matrix
▪ Generalized Transformation Matrix:
Description of Objects in Space
▪ Description
 Position
 Orientation
Description of Objects in Space
▪ The homogeneous transform 0T1 completely describes the
location of the body B
 The position vector component 0D1 of 0T1 describes its
position
 The rotation matrix component 0R1 describes the
orientation of the body with respect to frame {0}
Description of Objects in Space
▪ Wrist Frames
▪ Frames are assigned to the end-effector using normal,
sliding (orientation) and approach vectors which are yaw,
pitch and roll vectors respectively
Description of Objects in Space
▪ Wrist Frames
▪ The transformation matrix T for the end-effector with
respect to the coordinate frame {n o a} is written as:

▪ n, o and a represent the X, Y and Z axes of the end-

effector
Description of Objects in Space
▪ Wrist Frames
▪ The submatrix R for rotation can be given by:
Description of Objects in Space
▪ Wrist Frames
▪ Some properties:
▪ Since the vectors n, o and a are mutually perpendicular,
the rotation matrix R represents an orthogonal
transformation. Moreover since the vectors in the dot
products are all unit vectors, it is also called orthonormal
transformation
▪ Some relations:
Description of Objects in Space
▪ Wrist Frames
▪ Some relations:
Transformation of Vectors
▪ What is transformation?

▪ Comparison with mapping

▪ Still much closely related to mapping

Rotation of Vectors
▪ Consider the following:

▪ Physical interpretation?
Rotation of Vectors
▪ Thus we have,

▪ No sub or superscripts for R

▪ “The rotation matrix R(θ) which rotates a vector

through some angle θ about k-axis, is the same as
the rotational transformation matrix, which
describes a frame rotated by θ relative to the
reference frame ”
Translation of Vectors
▪ Consider the following:

▪ We thus have,
Combined Rotation and
Translation of Vectors
▪ General transformation can be given by:

▪ Here T is the transformation matrix that

describes a frame rotated by R(θ) and translated
by 1D with respect to another frame.
Composite Transformation
▪ Consider the following:

▪ Three frames, each rotated and translated from

its preceding frame
Composite Transformation
▪ We need the transform which relates 3P in frame
{3} to 1P

▪ Clearly we have the following:

Composite Transformation
▪ In general:

▪ For frame {i} to frame {j} with i>j:

Inverting a Homogeneous Transform
▪ Often iTj is required while jTi is known

▪ Mathematically it is possible to find the inverse

▪ But the same can be achieved by exploiting the

structure of the homogeneous transform T

▪ We have:
Inverting a Homogeneous Transform
▪ We know that:

▪ Further:
Inverting a Homogeneous Transform
▪ Mapping a point P from frame {2} to frame {1}
can be done by:

▪ Simplifying:
Inverting a Homogeneous Transform
▪ Mapping a point P from frame {1} to frame {2}
can be done by:

▪ Comparing:
Inverting a Homogeneous Transform
▪ Thus:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ Consider the following rotation:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ The corresponding rotation matrix 1R2 is denoted
by Rz(θ) or R(z, θ) or Rz,θ
▪ We know that:

▪ Hence:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ In simplified form:

▪ Similarly:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ In homogeneous transforms:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ Rotation matrices can be multiplied together to
get sequence of finite rotations:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ The order is apparently important

▪ How the rotations are performed is also

important (!)
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ “Successive rotations are performed about the
principal axes of the fixed frame”
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Principal Axes Rotation:
▪ “Successive rotations are performed about the
current principal axes of the moving frame”
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Fixed Angle Representation:
▪ Fixed frame is {1} or {x y z}
▪ Moving frame is {2} or {u v w}
▪ Consider the following rotations of moving frame about
the three axes of fixed frame:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Fixed Angle Representation:
▪ Such a convention is known as fixed angle representation.
▪ The described rotations are described as XYZ-fixed angle
rotations.
▪ We have the overall rotation matrix:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Fixed Angle Representation:
▪ The overall rotation matrix:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Fixed Angle Representation:
▪ The three rotations about the three fixed principal axes in
fixed angle rotation produce the motions which are also
known as roll, pitch and yaw motions

▪ The XYZ-fixed angle transformation is equivalent to roll-pitch-

yaw (RPY) transformation
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Euler Angle Representation:
▪ The moving frame, instead of rotating about the principal axes
of the fixed frame, can rotate about its own principal axes.
▪ Consider the following rotations:

▪ This convention for specifying the orientation is called WVU-

Euler angle representation
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Euler Angle Representation:
▪ Equivalent rotation matrix is computed by post multiplication
of matrices of elementary rotations as follows:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Euler Angle Representation:
▪ Equivalent rotation matrix is computed by post multiplication
of matrices of elementary rotations as follows:
Fundamental Rotation Matrices
▪ Euler Angle Representation:
▪ Results are same as that obtained for fixed angle
representation, but the rotations were performed in opposite
order.
▪ Thus,

▪ The above relationship is ambiguous. We modify it to the

following:
SUMMARY

ROTATION

TRANSLATION
 cont..

ROTATION + TRANSLATION
 cont..

OBJECTS IN SPACE
 cont..

ROTATION OF VECTORS
 cont..

TRANSLATION OF VECTORS
 cont..

COMPOSITE TRANSFORMATION
cont..

INVERSION
 cont..

PRINCIPLE AXIS ROTATION

FIXED ANGLE EULER ANGLE

▪ Problem:
▪ Solution:
▪ Problem:
▪ In the previous problem 1T2 was obtained, which
describes the position and orientation of frame
{2} relative to frame {1}. Using this matrix,
determine the description of frame {1} relative to
frame {2}
▪ Solution:
▪ Solution:
▪ Problem:
▪ Solution:
▪ Solution:
▪ Solution:
▪ Problem:
▪ A vector v=3i+2j+7k is rotated by 60 about the z-
axes of the reference frame. It is then rotated by
30 about the x-axes of the reference frame. Find
the rotation transformation.
▪ Problem:
▪ A vector v=3i+2j+7k is rotated by 60 about the z-
axes of the reference frame. It is then rotated by
30 about the x-axes of the rotated frame. Find
the rotation transformation.
▪ Problem:
▪ A vector P=3i-2j+5k is first rotated by 90° about
the x-axis, then by 90° about z-axis. Finally it is
translated by -3i+2j-5k.
▪ Determine the new position of vector P
▪ Problem:
▪ Find the new location of point G, initially at G=[ 3
0 -1 1]T, if
 It is rotated by 180° about z-axis and then translated by
3 units along the y-axis
 It is first translated by 3 units along the y-axis and then
rotated by 180° about z-axis

▪ Are the two locations same? Why?

▪ Problem:
▪ A moving frame is rotated about x-axis of the
fixed coordinate frame by 30°. The coordinates of
a point Q in fixed coordinate frame are given by
Q=[ 2 0 3]T
▪ What will be the coordinates of a point Q with
respect to the moving frame?