Explicit dynamics equations of the constrained robotic systems

Recursive matrix relations concerning the kinematics and the dynamics of a constrained robotic system, schematized by several kinematical chains, are established in this paper. Introducing frames and bases, we first analyze the geometrical properties of the mechanism and derive a general set of relations. Kinematics of the vector system of velocities and accelerations for each element of robot are then obtained. Expressed for every independent loop of the robot, useful conditions of connectivity regarding the relative velocities and accelerations are determined for direct or inverse kinematics problem. Based on the general principle of virtual powers, final matrix relations written in a recursive compact form express just the explicit dynamics equations of a constrained robotic system. Establishing active forces or actuator torques in an inverse dynamic problem, these equations are useful in fact for real-time control of a robot.     

On the efficacy of pseudo-coordinates—Part 2: moving boundary constraints

In this paper an argument is presented in favor of utilizing felicitous or natural coordinates in the model formulation of complex hybrid parameter multiple body mechanical systems (HPMBS). Specifically for this paper, HPMBS that consist of continuua that are subjected to spatially and temporally varying non-holonomic boundary conditions. This is the second paper of a two part series of papers that is presented to clarify the novelty and usefulness of a recently developed Gibbs-Appell type projection based HPMBS modeling tool. The purpose of the paper is to show that with the novel use of pseudo-coordinates and speeds (as defined by the author) it is completely natural to provide minimal configuration space dimensionality yet still retain rigorous analytical formulation tractability.Presented in this work, as a demonstrative arguing point, is the development of the hybrid parameter motion equations for a rolling flexible-disk material cutting device. This device consists of a circular flexible continuum (the cutter) along with the requisite mounting rigid hub and handle. This non-holonomically constrained device is modeled executing spatial motion constrained to the plane via moving constraints applied to the boundary of the planar continuum. Also included in this work are numerical results bolstering the claims made herein. These numerical results demonstrate that the methodology elucidated provides low-order models suitable for modeling complicated devices. These low-order models are in contrast to the current modeling trend of ever-increasing degrees of freedom.     

Conditions for pure rolling of a heavy cylinder along a brachistochrone

Algebraic equations for the line of steepest descent of a cylinder are derived in parametric form. Conditions for rolling without slipping and separation of the cylinder along a brachistochrone are established based on the equations of motion with constraint reaction. The important conclusion is drawn that the center of mass of a cylinder moving along a brachistochrone describes a cycloid     

Dynamics equations of a mobile robot provided with caster wheel

Kinematics and dynamics of a mobile robot, consisting of a platform, two conventional wheels and a crank that controls the motion of a free rolling caster wheel, are analyzed in the paper. Based on several matrix relations of connectivity, the characteristic velocities and accelerations of this non-holonomic mechanical system are derived. Using the principle of virtual work, expressions and graphs for the torques and the powers of the two driving wheels are established. It has been verified the results in the framework of the second-order Lagrange equations with their multipliers. The study of the dynamics problems of the wheeled mobile robots is done mainly to solve successfully the control of the motion of such systems.     

Nonlinear flutter of viscoelastic rectangular plates and cylindrical panels of a composite with a concentrated masses

The problem of flutter of viscoelastic rectangular plates and cylindrical panels with concentrated masses is studied in a geometrically nonlinear formulation. In the equation of motion of the plate and panel, the effect of concentrated masses is accounted for using the δ-Dirac function. The problem is reduced to a system of nonlinear ordinary integrodifferential equations by using the Bubnov-Galerkin method. The resulting system with a weakly singular Koltunov-Rzhanitsyn kernel is solved by employing a numerical method based on quadrature formulas. The behavior of viscoelastic rectangular plates and cylindrical panels is studied and the critical flow velocities are determined for real composite materials over wide ranges of physicomechanical and geometrical parameters.     

Finite and impulsive motion of constrained mechanical systems via Jourdain's principle: discrete and hybrid parameter models

The main purpose of this paper is to present a unified analytical dynamics framework for the analysis of finite and impulsive motion of mechanical systems using Jourdain's principle. Emphasis is given to the general case when a mechanical system is described by a hybrid (discrete-distributed) parameter model. A large group of finite and impulsive, generally non-holonomic, constraints are analysed in detail and a so-called extended Appellian classification is presented for these constrained motion problems. The fundamental dynamic equation of constrained systems is developed in terms of velocity variations (Jourdain's principle). Based on this equation and the constraints, the methods of quasivelocities and Lagrangian multipliers are adopted and interpreted for the finite motion of hybrid parameter models of mechanical systems; and the methods of independent quasivelocity variations and Lagrangian multipliers are introduced for the analysis of impulsive motion of such models. To illustrate the proposed material, an example of a one-link flexible arm intercepting and capturing a moving target is considered.     

Motion equations in redundant coordinates with application to inverse dynamics of constrained mechanical systems

The basis for any model-based control of dynamical systems is a numerically efficient formulation of the motion equations, preferably expressed in terms of a minimal set of independent coordinates. To this end the coordinates of a constrained system are commonly split into a set of dependent and independent ones. The drawback of such coordinate partitioning is that the splitting is not globally valid since an atlas of local charts is required to globally parameterize the configuration space. Therefore different formulations in redundant coordinates have been proposed. They usually involve the inverse of the mass matrix and are computationally rather complex. In this paper an efficient formulation of the motion equations in redundant coordinates is presented for general non-holonomic systems that is valid in any regular configuration. This gives rise to a globally valid system of redundant differential equations. It is tailored for solving the inverse dynamics problem, and an explicit inverse dynamics solution is presented for general full-actuated systems. Moreover, the proposed formulation gives rise to a non-redundant system of motion equations for non-redundantly full-actuated systems that do not exhibit input singularities.     

Quickest-descent curve in the problem of rolling of a homogeneous cylinder

The motion of a heavy homogeneous cylinder is considered as rolling without slipping along an unknown curve. A functional in the form of the total time of rolling is found and minimized by solving a variational problem. The algebraic equation of the quickest-descent directrix is derived in parametric form Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 131–138, December 2008.     

Forces associated with non-linear non-holonomic constraint equations

A concise method has been formulated for identifying a set of forces needed to constrain the behavior of a mechanical system, modeled as a set of particles and rigid bodies, when it is subject to motion constraints described by non-holonomic equations that are inherently non-linear in velocity. An expression in vector form is obtained for each force; a direction is determined, together with the point of application. This result is a consequence of expressing constraint equations in terms of dot products of vectors rather than in the usual way, which is entirely in terms of scalars and matrices. The constraint forces in vector form are used together with two new analytical approaches for deriving equations governing motion of a system subject to such constraints. If constraint forces are of interest they can be brought into evidence in explicit dynamical equations by employing the well-known non-holonomic partial velocities associated with Kane's method; if they are not of interest, equations can be formed instead with the aid of vectors introduced here as non-holonomic partial accelerations. When the analyst requires only the latter, smaller set of equations, they can be formed directly; it is not necessary to expend the labor first to form the former, larger set and subsequently perform matrix multiplications.     

Forward and inverse dynamics of nonholonomic mechanical systems

This paper deals with the forward and the inverse dynamic problems of mechanical systems subjected to nonholonomic constraints. The intrinsically dual nature of these two problems is identified and utilised to develop a systematic approach to formulate and solve them according to an unified framework. The proposed methodology is based on the fundamental equations of constrained motion which derive from Gauss’s principle of least constraint. The main advantage arising from using the fundamental equations of constrained motion is that they represent an effective method capable to derive the generalised acceleration of a mechanical system, constrained in general by a set of nonholonomic constraints, together with the generalized constraint forces (forward dynamics). When the constraint equations are used to represent the desired behaviour of the mechanical system under study, the generalised constraint forces deriving from the fundamental equations of constrained motion provide the control actions which reproduce the specified motion for the system (inverse dynamics). This approach is systematically extended to underactuated mechanical systems introducing a new method named underactuation equivalence principle. The underactuation equivalence principle is founded on the key idea that the underactuation property of a mechanical system can be mathematically represented using a particular set of nonholonomic constraint equations. Two simple case-studies are reported to exemplify the proposed methodology. In the first case-study the computation of the generalised constraint forces relative to the revolute joint constraints of a physical pendulum is illustrated. In the second case-study the calculation of the control action which solves the swing-up problem for an inverted pendulum is described.     

Free vibration of circular cylindrical shell with constrained layer damping

Free vibration characteristics of circular cylindrical shell with passive constrained layer damping (PCLD) are presented. Wave propagation approach rather than finite element method, transfer matrix method, and Rayleigh-Ritz method is used to solve the problem of vibration of PCLD circular cylindrical shell under a simply supported boundary condition at two ends. The governing equations of motion for the orthotropic cylindrical shell with PCLD are derived on the base of Sanders’ thin shell theory. Numerical results show that the present method is more effective in comparison with other methods. The effects of the thickness of viscoelastic core and constrained layer, the elastic modulus ratio of orthotropic constrained layer, the complex shear modulus of viscoelastic core on frequency parameter, and the loss factor are discussed.     

Swing-up and positioning control of an inverted wheeled cart pendulum system with chaotic balancing motions

This paper explores the problem of swinging-up an inverted pendulum formed by a rod attached to a wheeled cart with a hanging bob at its opposite end. The system is driven by the wheeled cart platform system, which is formed by a cart, wheels with counterbalance and connecting-rods. The model of the system is initially obtained under the assumption of rolling without slipping of the wheels, which is then verified by computing the reaction forces. The motion of the wheeled cart is initially oscillating, whereas the rod can move freely giving rise to an under-actuated mechanical system. From the harmonic prescribed motion for the wheeled cart, necessary conditions for chaotic rod motion are deduced by means of the Melnikov function. Once the chaotic oscillation has been reached and the rod is close to the upright position, the force over the wheeled cart is commutated to a control law based on the pole-placement plus integrator technique. This procedure allows driving the rod and the wheeled cart system to the upright position and to a prescribed set point respectively. The onset of strange attractors is crucial in the design of the control law, whose performance to obtain rolling without slipping is researched by means of sensitive dependence, power spectral density, Lyapunov exponents and reaction forces. The results of the analytical calculations are verified by full numerical simulations.     

SYNCHRONOUS EFFECT OF SLIPPING HEAVY LOADS ON RO-RO SHIP ROLLING IN WAVES

Common effect of wave and slip of internal vehicles will make rolling of the roll-on ship serious. This is one of the important reasons for overturn of ro-ro ships. The multibody system with a floating base is composed of ro-ro ship and slipping vehicles. Takes the rolling angle of the ship and the transverse displacements of the slipping vehicles on desk as freedoms. Making use of the analysis of apparent gravitation and apparent buoyancy, the wave rolling moment is derived. By means of dynamic method of multibody system, dynamic equations of the system are established. Taking a certain channel ferry as an example, a set of numerical calculation have been carried out for rolling response of the multibody system with a floating base of a ro-ro ship and displacements response of the slipping vehicles under common effect of free slipping vehicles and wave, and a conclusion has been drawn that the motion of the numerous free slipping heavy loads will trend to be synchronous under restraining of the side-wall bulkhead with time because of repeated collision.     

Dispersion Equations for Harmonic Waves Propagating along a Cylindrical Shell Reinforced with A Rib Mesh (Single-Mode Approximation)

The dispersion equations for harmonic waves propagating along a cylindrical shell reinforced with a rib mesh are derived in single-mode approximation. The influence of the geometrical parameters of ring frames on the cutoff frequencies is studied by numerical examples. It is shown that with increase in the stiffness and number of frames, the number of dispersion curves decreases and their shape changes     

Motion of a three-degree-of-freedom gyro with an electric spring and with zero angular momentum

We consider the motion of a three-degree-of-freedom gyro with an electric spring and with zero angular momentum mounted on a fixed base. The gimbal rotation angles are constrained by an elastic ring that is attached to the base and confines a rod attached to the internal gimbal. The equations of motion of the gyro are supplemented with equations allowing for the delay in the response of the gyro feedback circuit. By numerical integration we find a steady-state mode of the gyro motion, in which the rod alternately slides along the ring and moves in the interior of the ring. This motion can be used to check the gyro performance after launching a spacecraft to a near-Earth orbit by comparing the gyro motions in ground tests and on the orbit.     

带初始几何缺陷FGM固支圆柱壳的非线性动力学分析

本文主要研究了带初始几何缺陷的功能梯度固支圆柱壳在不同体积分数下的非线性动力学行为。假定该功能梯度圆柱壳材料的组分是沿厚度的方向呈梯度几何变化的。运用经典板壳理论、von-Karman几何非线性应变位移关系以及Hamilton原理,推导出两端固支FGM圆柱壳的偏微分非线性运动控制方程。本文考虑了圆柱壳的对称模态,利用Galerkin法对上述非线性动力学方程进行截断,得到常微分形式的非线性动力学方程。主要运用Runge-Kutta法进行数值仿真,并且画出了其最大lyapunov指数图,主要研究了面内载荷对振动响应的影响,并对比了不同体积分数对系统非线性动力学的影响。     

Rolling of a Heavy Ball in a Spherical Recess of a Translationally Moving Body

The dynamic behavior of a heavy homogeneous ball rolling without slipping in a spherical recess of a translationally moving body is analyzed. The equations of motion of the ball are derived based on Appell's nonholonomic mechanics. The evolution of the dynamic system in time is analyzed numerically.     

A bistable rolling joint for multistable structures

In this paper, a concept of using rolling joints for a multistable structure, which deforms elastically into a variety of cylindrical shapes, is presented. A bistable joint is obtained by modifying the geometry of a rolling hinge. The proposed concept can hold the stable state without any continued actuation. Then detailed mathematical derivations are carried out to obtain the wire tensions and joint resultant moment during the motion, which are used to compute the external action that should be applied to move the joint. The effects of some geometric parameters on the mechanical behavior are also investigated. The results show that higher values of the wire tension and joint resultant moments can be obtained by increasing the side included angle φ or the radius of wire wrapped circles R. Moreover, the pretension of wires in the stable configuration also increases the wire tension and the joint resultant moment.