Operating High-DoF Articulated Robots Using Virtual Links and Joints

This chapter presents the theory, implementation, and application of a novel operations system for articulated robots with large numbers (10s to 100s) of degrees-of-freedom (DoF), based on virtual articulations and kinematic abstractions. Such robots are attractive in some applications, including space exploration, due to their application flexibility. But operating them can be challenging: they are capable of many different kinds of motion, but often this requires coordination of many joints. Prior methods exist for specifying motions at both low and high-levels of detail; the new methods fill a gap in the middle by allowing the operator to be as detailed as desired. The presentation is fully general and can be directly applied across a broad class of 3D articulated robots.