Screw-based kinematic modeling and geometric analysis of planar mobile robots

Typical mobile robots can be modeled as parallel mechanisms by employing an interfacing variable between the ground and the wheels. Based on this conception, the screw theory was employed in the following work as an alternative approach in the modeling of such parallel-natured mobile robots. This theory allows for a geometric analysis of mobile mechanisms. As a result, the computational load in the derivation of a Jacobian model can be reduced, the kinematic model for different sets of inputs can be easily obtained, and an equivalent serial-chain model can be analyzed. Two mobile robots were examined as exemplary models. The proposed approach can also be applied to kinematic modeling and the analysis of general types of mobile robots.