Modular relative jacobian for combined 3-arm parallel manipulators

This work presents a new formulation of a modular relative Jacobian used to control combined manipulators as a single manipulator with a single effector. In particular, this modular relative Jacobian is designed for 3-arm parallel manipulators. It is called a relative Jacobian because it is expressed relative to the reference frames at the manipulator end-effectors. It is modular because it uses the existing information of each standalone manipulator component to arrive at the necessary expressions for the combined system. This work is part of a series of studies to express a single end-effector control of combined manipulators, in parallel as well as other types of base configurations. This holistic approach of controlling combined manipulators affords a drastic increase of the null-space dimension and the convenience to use all the principles of controlling a single manipulator for the resulting combined system. Derivation of the modular relative Jacobian for a 3-arm parallel manipulator is shown, together will simulation results.