The Generation and Optimization of Trigonometric Joint Trajectories for Robotic Manipulators

Interpolation of a sequence of desired robot configurations is realized using trigonometric splines. This original application has several advantages over existing methods (e.g. those using algebraic splines). For example, the computational expense is lower, more constraints can be imposed on the trajectory, and smoother trajectories are obtained using the proposed approach. The paper introduces a trajectory interpolation algorithm, discusses methods for both closedform and numerical path optimization, and includes examples.