A surface integral approach to the motion planning of nonholonomic systems
By: Ranjan Mukherjee
Contributors: Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1992
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Subjects: MOTION; ROBOTICS; ROBOTS; SYSTEMS APPROACH
Other titles: NPS-ME-92-003.
Description: Nonholonomic mechanical systems are governed by constraints of motion that are      nonintegrable differential expressions. Unlike holonomic constraints, these differential      constraints do not reduce the number of dimensions of the configuration space of a system.      Therefore, a nonholonomic system can access a configuration space of dimension higher      than the number of degrees of freedom of the system. In this paper, we develop an      algorithm for planning admissible trajectories for nonholonomic systems that will take the      system from one point in its configuration space to another. In our algorithm we first      converge the independent variables to their desired values and then use closed trajectories      of the independent variables to converge the dependent variables. We use Stokes's      theorem in our algorithm to convert the problem of finding a closed path into that of finding      a surface area in the space of the independent variables, such that the dependent variables      converge to their desired values as the independent variables traverse along the boundary      of this surface area. The use of Stokes's theorem simplifies the motion planning problem      and also imparts global characteristics. The salient features of our algorithm are apparent in      the two examples that we discuss - a planar space robot and a disk rolling without slipping      on a flat surface.
Notes: Title from cover.

"NPS-ME-92-003."

"August 1992."

AD A254 844.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 18-19).

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