Mechanical systems naturally evolve on principal bundles describing their inherent symmetries. The ensuing factorization of the configuration manifold into a symmetry group and an internal shape space has provided deep insights into the locomotion of many robotic and biological systems. On the other hand, the property of differential flatness has enabled efficient, effective planning and control algorithms for various robotic systems. Yet, a practical means of finding a flat output for an arbitrary robotic system remains an open question. In this work, we demonstrate surprising new connections between these two domains, for the first time employing symmetry directly to construct a flat output. We provide sufficient conditions for the existence of a trivialization of the bundle in which the group variables themselves are a flat output. We call this a geometric flat output, since it is equivariant (i.e. maintains the symmetry) and is often global or almost-global, properties not typically enjoyed by other flat outputs. In such a trivialization, the motion planning problem is easily solved, since a given trajectory for the group variables will fully determine the trajectory for the shape variables that exactly achieves this motion. We provide a partial catalog of robotic systems with geometric flat outputs and worked examples for the planar rocket, planar aerial manipulator, and quadrotor.
翻译:利用对称性构建的几何平坦输出在构造机器人系统中具有至关重要的作用。本研究首次提出了一种基于对称性的平坦输出方案,可以全局或几乎全局地维持对称性。在这个平凡化中,群变量本身就成为平坦输出,并且给定群变量的轨迹将精确地确定形状变量的轨迹,从而使得运动规划问题更容易解决。我们提供了一批机器人系统的目录,并为平面火箭、平面空中操纵器和四旋翼提供了工作示例。