Design of a nonholonomic manipulator

Nonholonomic systems are typically controllable in a configuration space of higher dimension than the input space. Here, it is shown how nonholonomic constraints can be exploited to design a controllable n-joint manipulator with only two inputs. Gears subject to nonholonomic constraints are designed to transmit velocities from the inputs to the unactuated joints. The designed nonholonomic manipulator is shown to be completely controllable in the whole configuration space. The system is designed with a triangular structure for which a conversion into chained form is presented. The nonholonomic manipulator can, therefore, be controlled using existing controllers for chained form