Kinematics Rapid Modeling Method of Tendon-Driven Robotic Mechanisms Using the Tendon-Routing Matrix and Equivalent Radius Matrix

Abstract

A new kinematics rapid modeling method for N-degree-of-freedom (DOF) serial tendon-driven robotic mechanisms with N, N+1, and 2N configurations is proposed in this paper. Introducing the tendon-routing matrix (TRM) and equivalent radius matrix (ERM), which gotten by observing the routing topology of tendons, it is shown that all tendon routing can be described by two simple matrixes. The basic kinematic of tendon-driven robotic mechanism can be obtained by TRM and ERM. To avoid slackness in tendons and ensure to provide positive tendon tensions during the motion, the bias forces of the tendons is derived. To illustrate this method, the kinematic analysis of the Stanford /JPL finger is performed by TRM and ERM. The result shows that the proposed representation method can simplify kinematics modeling and analysis, significantly improve the kinematics modeling efficiency.