New results on control of multibody systems which conserve angular momentum (Q1972700)

The authors study the control of motion of a plane multilink consisting of \(N(N>1)\) rigid bodies interconnected with one-degree-of-freedom frictionless rotational joints in the form of an open kinematic tree. Such systems conserve angular momentum and have applications in space robotics, spring-board diver dynamics, and in the study of falling cat phenomenon. The authors reduce the initial problem to the problem of reconfiguring the multilink from a given initial shape and orientation to a specified final shape and orientation over a specified time interval. They prove that, if the multilink consists of at least three nondegenerate links, for any number of angular momentum joint actuators, it is possible to reconfigure the multilink arbitrarily over an arbitrary time interval.