Maximum allowable load of mobile manipulators for two given end points of end effector

The aim of this paper is the formulation and numerical solution for finding the maximum dynamic load of mobile manipulators for a given two-end-point task. In fixed-base classical robots, the maximum allowable load is limited mainly by their joint actuator capacity constraints. However, besides actuator capacity constraints, kinematic redundancy and non-holonomic constraints should be considered for finding maximum dynamic payload of mobile manipulators, both of which arise from base mobility. The extended Jacobian matrix concept is used to solve the redundancy resolution and non-holonomic constraints. The problem is formulated as a trajectory optimisation problem, which fundamentally is a constrained nonlinear optimisation problem. Then, the iterative linear programming (ILP) method is utilised to solve the optimisation problem. Finally, by a numerical example involving a two-link manipulator mounted on a differentially driven wheeled base, use of the method is presented and the results are discussed.