Highly efficient transputer arrays for the computation of robot dynamics

The modelling of the highly coupled and non-linear dynamic models of robot manipulators is computationally expensive in terms of computer hardware. Hence this problem has always presented a major obstacle in on-line dynamic control applications. However, the recent advent of the VLSI single on-chip computer (Transputer) makes it possible to implement new algorithms that compute these dynamic models within real-time constraints. This paper describes a solution of this problem by employing a parallel-processing approach. The dynamic model of a robot manipulator is divided into different tasks. Further, each task is divided into several subtasks. A heuristic scheduling algorithm is used to produce different near-optimum task allocations. Real-time implementations of the proposed tasks allocations are given to demonstrate the efficiency and superiority of the parallel-processing approach.