Screw Theory for Robotics: A practical approach for Modern Robot KINEMATICS

The importance of screw theory in robotics is recognised but hardly capitalised on. Engineering students rarely get to learn about it in class, so only few postgraduates know how to exploit it. However, in a variety of areas of robotics, the methods and formalisms based on the geometry and algebra of the screws, have proven to be superior to other techniques.The idea of publishing this book came about because there were not enough specialised texts for teaching the screw theory methodologies and advantages through a set of visual and comprehensive examples.This illustrated handbook presents an abstract mathematical formulation for robot KINEMATICS based in the use of the screw theory tools, making an emphasis on modern geometric techniques. Its main objective is to demonstrate that many robotics problems addressed today only with numerical iterative solutions, are solved much better with closed-form geometric solutions based on screw theory.This book will surely spark your excitement about the technological and social prospects for robotics and enable you to develop effective and efficient robot algorithms, solutions and applications. In the end you will realise that, most of the time, a good theory is the fastest way to obtain a better performance, and the only thing you will have to do in exchange is put in some time and commitment in studying the screw theory.The contents of this handbook are used at the “Master in Robotics and Automation” of the UC3M (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) by the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation.