Inverse Dynamics of Multilink Cable-Driven Manipulators With the Consideration of Joint Interaction Forces and Moments

Joint interaction forces and moments play a significant role within multilink cable-driven manipulators (MCDMs). In this paper, the consideration of joint interaction forces and moments in the objective function and constraints specific to the inverse dynamics of MCDMs are considered for the first time. By formulating the relationship between the joint interactions and cable forces, it is shown that the minimization of the joint interactions results in a convex quadratic program. Furthermore, the inclusion of constraints to maintain the stability of unilateral spherical joints results in a quadratically constrained quadratic program. Simulation results of the proposed formulations on two-link eight-cable and eight-link 76-cable manipulators are compared with the traditional two-norm cable force minimization. Results show that the formulations are able to take advantage of the actuation redundancy in considering the joint interactions within the inverse dynamics of MCDMs.