A Beginner's Guide to 6-D Vectors (Part 1)

A rigid body has six degrees of motion freedom, so why not use six-dimensional (6-D) vectors to describe its motions and the forces acting upon it? In fact, some roboticists already do this, and the practice is becoming more common. The purpose of this tutorial is to present a beginner's guide to 6-D vectors in sufficient detail that a reader can begin to use them as a practical problem-solving tool right away. This tutorial covers the basics, and Part 2 will cover the application of 6-D vectors to a variety of robot kinematics and dynamics calculations.