Robotic manipulator trajectory tracking using direct collocation

This study applies a five-linked robotic manipulator to track prespecified trajectories in the workspace. It is authors' intent to see how adequate the method of direct collocation and nonlinear programming (DCNLP) can be in enhancing the capability of robotic manipulator. Creative dig-ins may excavate useful robotic applications not only in welding industry but also in medical-home health caring applications. In this study, the dynamics of the manipulator is constructed by Lagrange-Euler (L-E) formulation and the geometry of the manipulator is defined according to the Denavit-Hartenberg convention. Once the EOM are available, the optimal control theory takes over and the necessary conditions (NCs) confine the manipulator system to the optimality condition of least-energy maneuvering. However, NCs inevitably evoke the two-point boundary-valued problem (TPBVP). The method of DCNLP will convert a TPBVP into a nonlinear programming problem. It assures the certainty of obtaining optimal solutions for TPBVP. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.