Shape and area computation of cooperative workspace of dual-arm robot

Dual arm robots are essential to dexterity and broaden greatly the types of activities the robot can achieve. Exact computation of the boundary shape and volume or area of dual arm robot workspace is very important for its optimum design and application. In the paper, a ground experimental system of a dual arm space robot in two-dimension was illustrated, and the kinematic model of the both arms was presented. Monte Carlo method was used to generate robot workspace of each arm, according to the kinematics mapping from the joints space to the workspace. The common region of both arm workspaces was determined by the theory of computer graphics, and was viewed as the cooperative workspace. Furthermore, the area of the cooperative workspace can be estimated as the ratio of number of random points that are contained within the workspace to the total number of random points generated, multiplied by the volume of the box.