This work deals with development of effective redundancy resolution algorithms for the motion control of manipulator. Differently from the typical kinematically redundant robots that are attached to the fixed ground, the ZMP condition should be taken into account in the manipulator motion in order to guarantee the system stability. In this paper, a new motion planning algorithm for redundant manipulator not fixed to the ground is introduced. A sequential redundancy resolution algorithm is proposed, which ensures the ZMP (Zero Moment Point) stability, the planned operational motion, and additional sub‐criteria such as joint limit index. A geometric constraint equation derived by reshaping the existing ZMP equation enables one to employ the sequential redundancy algorithm. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is verified by simulating a redundant manipulator model.

Most omni-directional mobile robots have to change their trajectory for avoiding obstacles regardless of the size of the obstacles. However, an omni-directional mobile robot having kinematic redundancy can maintain the trajectory while the robot avoids small obstacles. This works deals with the kinematic modeling and motion planning of an omni-directional mobile robot with kinematic redundancy. This robot consists of three wheel mechanisms. Each wheel mechanism is modeled as having four joints, while only three joints are necessary for creating the omni-directional motion. Thus, each chain has one kinematic redundancy. Two types of wheel mechanisms are compared and its kinematic modeling is introduced. Finally, several motion planning algorithms using the kinematic redundancy are investigated. The usefulness of this robot is shown through experiment.