Symbolic modeling in robotics: Genesis,applicaton, and future prospects

This survey article gives an overview of software packages for generating numerically efficient manipulator models in symbolic form, i.e. as computer programs written in a high-level language such as C or FORTRAN. We chronicle the history of computational robot dynamics and, to some extent, multibody systems dynamics. We survey several mechanical computer-aided engineering software packages because they have charted the course for symbolic robot modeling software. The attractive features of various programs regarding areas of application (vehicles, robots, satellites, etc.) and design possibilities (kinematic and dynamic analysis, modal analysis, optimization of mechanical design, numerical efficiency of generated symbolic models, etc.) are emphasized. Finally, as an example, we present the SYM program package in more detail and point out the new strategic area of robotics which has emerged during the last two years: computer-aided generation of control laws.