Bio-inspired kinematical control of redundant robotic manipulators

Purpose - This paper aims to propose an innovative kinematic control algorithm for redundant robotic manipulators. The algorithm takes advantage of a bio-inspired approach. Design/methodology/approach - A simplified two-degree-of-freedom model is presented to handle kinematic redundancy in the x-y plane; an extension to three-dimensional tracking tasks is presented as well. A set of sample trajectories was used to evaluate the performances of the proposed algorithm. Findings - The results from the simulations confirm the continuity and accuracy of generated joint profiles for given end-effector trajectories as well as algorithm robustness, singularity and self-collision avoidance. Originality/value - This paper shows how to control a redundant robotic arm by applying human upper arm-inspired concept of inter-joint dependency.