Trajectory design for mechanical control systems: From geometry to algorithms

Trajectory design is a key problem in a vast array of robotic applications including the design of autonomous agile vehicles and of minimalist manipulators. This problem can be accurately formalized within the language of affine connections and of geometric control theory. This paper presents recent results on kinematic controllability and on oscillatory controls. The treatment emphasizes how to translate geometric controllability conditions into algorithms for generating and tracking trajectories. Copyright (C) 2003 IFAC.