MotionPro Inc - Modeling and Simulation of a

Stanford Robot Manipulator Using DH Notation

To demonstrate DynaFlexPros vast potential in the
field of robotics, a model of a Stanford manipulator
arm was developed for use in a Maple document that
allowed the robot geometry to be defined using the
Denavit-Hartenberg (DH) notation.

In robotic control, it is of great importance to know

the position of the robot tip, or end effecter, in world
coordinates. When modeling a robotic system,
researchers commonly use DH notation to specify
a robots geometry and the Stanford manipulator is
a common benchmark robotic system that has full
mobility (six-axis) and utilizes both prismatic and
revolute joints. A simplistic model of a robot as a
collection of links connected by joints is very often
insufficient. Engineers use the Denavit-Hartenberg
convention (D-H) to help them describe the positions
of links and joints unambiguously.
Rapid robotic system modeling for Simulink is now possible
with DynaFlexPro, Maple and BlockBuilder for Simulink.

Using the unique power of Maplethe kinematic and

dynamic equations of motion are automatically gener-
ated in symbolic form; users can then use Maplesofts
BlockBuilder for Simulink to automatically produce a
highly-optimized S-function block to incorporate the
robot model in Simulink.

The combination of DynaFlexPro and Maple allows you

Typical six-axis robot arm.
First, a forward kinematic simulation is performed,
where the motion of each joint can be defined by the
user, from which the path of the manipulators end-ef-
fector can be determined and plotted. This is followed
by an inverse dynamic simulation, where the torques
and forces required from the actuators at each joint
to produce this motion are found.
to automatically generate the kinematic and dynamic
equations of motion from a graphical topological rep-
resentation, and I dont know of another package that
would give a symbolic expression for the motor torques
from an inverse dynamic analysis, said Dr John McPhee,
Chief Scientist of MotionPro Inc, the developer of the
solution, Without these tools, the development of the
kinematic equations alone would have taken days. With
them, we had the basic solution developed in a couple of
hours. With the implementation of DH notation, we have
significantly extended their usefulness in the robotics field.

DH notation makes robot model definition intuitive. www.maplesoft.com | info@maplesoft.com

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