Abstract: The kinematics for a 7-DOF (degrees of freedom) redundant manipulator is analyzed. The Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) method is used to analyze forward kinematics. Position and attitude of the end-effector with respect to the base are obtained. Attitude is separated from position in analyzing inverse kinematics. For the position inverse kinematics, angular-displacement of the former four joints is obtained under a constraint condition. For the attitude inverse kinematics, the Euler angles are used to describe attitude of the end-effector with respect to the base. This way, the calculation is reduced. For the modular 7-DOF manipulator produced by SCHUNK, kinematics is analyzed and verified by virtual prototyping simulation.

Key words: 7-DOF, inverse kinematics, redundant manipulator, separating attitude from position