Research on a logging harvester and kinematics analysis of its manipulator

A logging harvester for clear-cutting in plantation is introduced in this paper. A chassis of ZL-50 wheeled loader is adopted as its walking mechanism. A multi-functional articulated manipulator is mounted on the front of the chassis, which can do the felling, the limbing, the measuring and the bucking. Meanwhile the kinematics analysis of the manipulator is produced, a coordinate system and a kinematics equation of the manipulator are established, thus the forward and the inverse kinematics solutions are calculated out. Furthermore the Jacobian matrix i.e. the generalized transmission ratio of the motion velocity between the operational space and the joint space is deduced. The results can be used in the design of the driving control system of the manipulator.