Computational robot dynamics: Foundations and applications

In 1984, the authors unveiled the computer program Algebraic Robot Modeler (ARM) for the symbolic generation of complete closed‐form dynamic robot models. In this paper, we introduce computational robot dynamics as the synthesis of classical mechanics and computer software for the symbolic and numeric modeling of robotic mechanisms, and branch‐out in three directions. First, we outline the foundations of computational robot dynamics. From its inception (in 1973), we review chronologically the contributions of prominent roboticists, tracing the parallel development of robot dynamics formulations and computational robot dynamics. We then highlight our research activities, the current capabilities of ARM, and our plans for the continuing development and application of ARM and computational robot dynamics. Finally, we focus on practical applications of computational robot dynamics. We apply ARM to produce examples illustrating the comparative computational requirements of robot dynamics formulations for symbolic processing and customized algorithms for numeric processing.