Computational scheme for simulating robot manipulators

A set of mixed differential and algebraic equations (DAEs) which arises in the simulation of a robot manipulator is solved simultaneously using implicit integration. The dimension of the DAEs which have to be solved by LU factorization at each integration step can be reduced to the number of degrees of freedom by exploring the special structure of the Jacobian matrix of DAEs. The independent and dependent generalized coordinates are determined directly from the system topology. The simulation of a 6-R manipulator is given as an example.