Optimal trajectory planning for robot manipulators is a very important issue in the research field of robotics. Many applications require smooth trajectories and the minimization of a performance index, usually the traveling time or the mechanical energy of the actuators. This paper presents a novel method that uses eighth-degree polynomial functions to generate smooth trajectories for the parametric representation of a given path. The optimization algorithm presented in this paper minimizes the mechanical energy consumed in the robot manipulator. To solve the optimization model, a genetic algorithm is implemented. A software platform has been developed to test this optimal trajectoryplanning algorithm. The software includes modules to solve the direct kinematics, the inverse kinematics, and the dynamics of the robot manipulator.

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