Natural motion of one-dimensional flexible objects using minimization approaches

Menon, Midhun S and Ananthasuresh, GK and Ghosal, Ashitava (2013) Natural motion of one-dimensional flexible objects using minimization approaches. In: Mechanism and Machine Theory, 67 . pp. 64-76.

PDF Mech_Machi_The_67_64_2013.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (1MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

For one-dimensional flexible objects such as ropes, chains, hair, the assumption of constant length is realistic for large-scale 3D motion. Moreover, when the motion or disturbance at one end gradually dies down along the curve defining the one-dimensional flexible objects, the motion appears ``natural''. This paper presents a purely geometric and kinematic approach for deriving more natural and length-preserving transformations of planar and spatial curves. Techniques from variational calculus are used to determine analytical conditions and it is shown that the velocity at any point on the curve must be along the tangent at that point for preserving the length and to yield the feature of diminishing motion. It is shown that for the special case of a straight line, the analytical conditions lead to the classical tractrix curve solution. Since analytical solutions exist for a tractrix curve, the motion of a piecewise linear curve can be solved in closed-form and thus can be applied for the resolution of redundancy in hyper-redundant robots. Simulation results for several planar and spatial curves and various input motions of one end are used to illustrate the features of motion damping and eventual alignment with the perturbation vector.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Mechanism and Machine Theory
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier Science.
Keywords:	Flexible Body Simulation; Length-Preserving Natural Motion; Optimization; Tractrix; Hyper-Redundant Robots
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2013 11:45
Last Modified:	05 Aug 2013 11:45
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/46896

Actions (login required)

View Item