◀ Back to Note

Tony's Intertwingled Memex • Reference Manual

Robotic Arm Path Planning (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering)

Formulas & Definitions

In robotics, the forward kinematics function maps the joint angles of a robotic arm to a physical coordinate (x,y)(x, y)(x,y) in space. However, to control the robot, engineers must solve the inverse kinematics problem: given a target coordinate (x,y)(x, y)(x,y), calculate the joint angle θ\thetaθ required to reach it.

For a single-link arm of length L=5 unitsL = 5\text{ units}L=5 units, the position is given by x=5cos⁡θx = 5\cos\thetax=5cosθ and y=5sin⁡θy = 5\sin\thetay=5sinθ.

  1. Reconstruct the trigonometric relationship to show that θ=arctan⁡(yx)\theta = \arctan\left(\frac{y}{x}\right)θ=arctan(xy​).
  2. If the arm needs to target the coordinate (x,y)=(−3,4)(x, y) = (-3, 4)(x,y)=(−3,4) in Quadrant II, evaluate the joint angle θ\thetaθ in radians, accounting for quadrant corrections.