THE INTERACTIVE ASSEMBLY AND COMPUTER ANIMATION
OF RECONFIGURABLE ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

by

RICHARD NELSON HOOPER, B.S.

THESIS

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

DECEMBER 1990

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
     1.1 Current Uses of Computer Animation in Robotics
          1.1.1 Workcell Design
          1.1.2 Off-line Programming
          1.1.3 Solid Modelling
          1. 1 .4 Promotion

2. Modularity
     2.1 Benefits to Computer Animation of Robots
          2.1.1 Reduces Obsolescence
          2.1.2 Simplifies Creation of Animation
          2.1.3 Increases Performance
          2.2 Benefits to Interactive Assembly of Robots
          2.2.1 Reconfigurable to Perform Varied Tasks
          2.2.2 Improves Design Process
          2.2.3 Facilitates Integration of Technology
          2.2.4 Improves Performance in Space and Nuclear Applications

3. Computer Animation Technology
     3.1 Graphics
     3.2 Animation Methods
     3.3 Algorithms for Surface Description
     3.4 Feature Based Model
     3.5 Precision

4. Specific Developments In This Report
     4.1 Obstacle Avoidance
     4.2 Redundant Inverse Kinematics
     4.3 Dynamic Simulation
     4.4 Real-Time Calculations
     4.5 Manual Controller Development
     4.6 Serial Configurations
     4. 7 Parallel Configuration
     4.8 Mobile Robots
     4. 9 Hybrid Systems
     4.10 Control in the Small
     4.11 World Model Databases

5. Conclusion
     5.1 Summary of Report
     5 .2 Further Research Opportunities and Recommendations

Appendix: robo_cad User's Manual
     A.1 Assembling Robot Structures
          A.1.1 Serial
          A.1.2 Parallel
          A.1.3 Mobile
          A.1.4 Hybrid
     A.2 Animation Methods
          A.2.1 Keyboard
          A.2.2 Datafiles
          A.2.3 Shared Memory
          A.3 Filing System

Bibliography

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