Kinematic Modeling with Experimental Validation of a KUKA®–Kinova® Holonomic Mobile Manipulator

Abstract

We have proposed an open-source holonomic mobile manipulator composed of the KUKA youBot holonomic mobile platform with four Swedish wheels and a stationary aboard six-degrees-of-freedom Kinova Jaco Gen 2H manipulator, and we have developed corresponding kinematic problems. We have defined forward and inverse analytic Jacobians and designed Jacobian algorithms of forward and inverse mobile manipulator kinematics. An experimental test conducted with the designed laboratory prototype of the investigated mobile manipulator with the described kinematics was used to verify the obtained theoretical results. The goal of the test was to keep constant the position of the gripper in 3D space while the mobile platform is moving to some extend in the 2D workspace.