A geometric method based on space arc for pose-configuration simultaneous planning of segmented hyper-redundant manipulators

A segmented hyper-redundant manipulator can perform complicated operation tasks in a confined space due to its high flexibility and dexterity. However, the trajectory planning in a narrow space and obstacles environment is very challenging for the manipulator. In this paper, we propose a geometry method to simultaneously plan the end-effector pose and manipulator’s configuration. Firstly, the geometries of each segment are described by an inscribed arc (IA) and a circumscribed arc (CA). Then, the whole kinematics chain is considered as an inscribed curve (IC) or a circumscribed curve (CC) which are composed of multiple IAs or CAs. Furthermore, the IC and CC of the manipulator are divided into multiple spatial single-arc and double-arc groups according to requirements. The pose-configuration simultaneous planning is realized by the spatial single-arc/double-arc modeling and joints angles solving. By numerical iteration, the spatial arcs’ parameters are determined according to desired pose and boundary condition of obstacle avoidance. The angles of joints are analytically solved when the above parameters are known. Finally, a narrow space detection task is simulated and experimented respectively. The results verify the proposed method.