A new Coriolis matrix factorization

Abstract

This paper presents a novel Coriolis/centripetal matrix factorization applicable to serial link rigid manipulators. The computationally efficient Coriolis matrix factorization is explicitly given as a function of the robot's kinematic matrices and their time derivatives which are easily obtained using the Denavit-Hartenberg-convention. The factorization is different from the popular Christoffel symbol representation, but the important skew-symmetry property is preserved. The proposed factorization is used to determine the class of manipulators for which a particular non-minimal representation of the manipulator dynamics exists.