Kinematics of the Hybrid 6-Axis (H6A) manipulator

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the forward and inverse kinematics of a six-degrees-of-freedom (DoF) spatial manipulator with a novel architecture. Developed by Systemantics India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, and designated as the H6A (i.e., Hybrid 6-Axis), this manipulator consists of two arm-like branches, which are attached to a rigid waist at the proximal end and are coupled together via a wrist assembly at the other. Kinematics of the manipulator is challenging due to the presence of two multi-DoF passive joints: a spherical joint in the right arm and a universal in the left. The forward kinematic problem has eight solutions, which are derived analytically in the closed form. The inverse kinematic problem leads to solutions and involves the derivation of a -degree polynomial equation, whose coefficients are obtained as closed-form symbolic expressions of the pose parameters of the end-effector, thus ensuring the generality of the results over all possible inputs. Furthermore, the analyses performed lead naturally to the conditions for various singularities involved, including certain non-trivial architecture singularities. The results are illustrated via numerical examples which are validated extensively.