Quasi-Optimal Energy Path Planning for Anthropomorphic Manipulator using Gravity Torque Mapping

In this paper, the energy used to hold the position of a robot arm against gravitational torque is presented. As the gravitational torque is static over the pose of the manipulator, it is possible to draw an energy map in a 2D grid. To reduce the energy used in a point-to-point movement, a modified Dijkstra’s path-finding algorithm is used. Generally, Dijkstra’s algorithm finds the shortest path on the grid, but in this paper, it is modified to generate the path with minimum use of positionholding energy. After generating the joint path off line, the energy use is compared between a conventional path and the proposed method is evaluated in a simulation including full dynamics.