Introduction to Robotics

Lecture 14: Lagrangian dynamics

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Dynamics of open chains

• It is often implicitly assumed that the robots’ links have negligible mass, at least compared to the
actuation power of their actuators. In this case, the kinematic approach to motion describes the
actual physical system relatively well.
• We look in this lecture into the effects of non-negligible masses, and thus inertia, on the dynamics
of robots.
• Inverse dynamics: determine the torques yielding a given trajectory (θ, θ̇, θ̈):

τ = M(θ)θ̈ + h(θ, θ̇)

• Forward dynamics: determines the trajectory θ(t) given τ :

θ̈ = M −1 (θ)(τ − h(θ, θ̇)).

The trajectory is a solution of the above ODE with appropriate initial state.
• M(θ) is called the mass matrix

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Lagrangian dynamics

• We first review the Lagrangian approach to determine the dynamics of a rigid body.
• Denote by q ∈ Rn the so-called generalized coordinates of the system. These are a set of
coordinates describing its state.
• From the generalized coordinates, we define the generalized forces f ∈ Rn . These are the forces
on the system that “act” on the generalized coordinates.
• The pair needs to be consistently chosen so that the power dissipated by the system is f ⊤ q̇.
• Mathematically, generalized forces are the dual to the (derivatives) of the generalized coordinates.
We do not go into these details in this course.
• Denote by K (q, q̇) the kinetic energy of the system, and by P(q) its potential energy. (Recall that
potential energy does not depend on q̇). The Lagrangian of the system is defined as
L(q, q̇) = K (q, q̇) − P(q)
• From the Lagrangian of the system, we obtain the equations of motion through the principle of
least action, which yields the Euler-Lagrange equations:
d ∂L ∂L
f = − .
dt ∂ q̇ ∂q
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Lagrangian dynamics: point mass

• Consider a particle of mass m constrained to move on the vertical line.

• A generalized coordinate is its height x ∈ R.
• Suppose that an external force f is applied on it, and force due to gravity is given by mg .
• The Lagrangian is then
1
L(x, ẋ) = K (x, ẋ) − P(x) = mẋ 2 − mgx .
2
| {z } |{z}pot. en.
kin. en.

• The equations of motion are given by

d
f = (mẋ) − (−mg ) = mẍ + mg .
dt
• We obtain the same equations of motion using Newton’s f = ma law.

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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

• Consider a 2R open chain, with links of masses m1 , m2 respectively. To simplify things, we assume
that the masses are concentrated at the ends of links.
• We take the joint positions (θ1 , θ2 ) for generalized coordinates, and (τ1 , τ2 ), the torques applied at
the joints, as generalized forces. Note that τ ⊤ θ̇ is the power dissipated by the torques.
• We now need to derive the Lagrangian. To this end, we need the position and velocity of the
masses.

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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

" # " # " # " #

x1 L1 cos θ1 ẋ1 −L1 sin θ1
= and = θ̇1 .
y1 L1 sin θ1 ẏ1 L1 cos θ1
For link 2: " # " #
x2 L1 cos θ1 + L2 cos(θ1 + θ2 )
= and
y2 L1 sin θ1 + L2 sin(θ1 + θ2 )
" # " #" #
ẋ2 −L1 sin θ1 − L2 sin(θ1 + θ2 ) −L2 sin(θ1 + θ2 ) θ̇1
= .
ẏ2 L1 cos θ1 + L2 cos(θ1 + θ2 ) L2 cos(θ1 + θ2 ) θ̇2

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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

• Using the relations of the previous slide, we obtain the kinetic energy of the links:
1 1
K1 = m1 (ẋ12 + ẏ12 ) = m1 L21 θ̇12
2 2
1 2 2
K2 = m2 (ẋ2 + ẏ2 )
2
1 
= m2 (L22 + 2L1 L2 cos θ2 + L22 )θ̇12 + 2(L22 + L1 L2 cos θ2 )θ̇1 θ̇2
2 
+L22 θ̇22

• The potential energies of the links are

P1 = m1 gy1 = mgL1 sin θ1

P2 = m2 gy2 = m2 g (L1 sin θ1 + L2 sin(θ1 + θ2 ))

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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

• The equations of motion are τi = d ∂L

dt ∂ θ̇i
− ∂L
∂θi
, i = 1, 2. This yields here

• We can write the above equations as

τ = M(θ)θ̈ + c(θ, θ̇) + g (θ)
| {z }
h(θ,θ̇)

with the definitions

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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

• The matrix M(θ) is symmetric and positive definite. It is called the mass matrix.
• The vector c(θ, θ̇) contains the centripetal and Coriolis forces/torques, and g (θ) contains the
gravitational forces/torques.
• We could have obtained the same equations again from f = ma

• Note that since (x̂, ŷ ) is an inertial frame, we have equations ẍ = · · · , ÿ = · · · . The frame (θ̂1 , θ̂2 )
is not inertial, hence θ̈ = 0 does not mean there is zero acceleration (i.e., ẍ, ÿ are not necessarily
zero when θ̈ is.).

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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

• A zero acceleration in a non-inertial frame does not imply a zero acceleration in an inertial frame.
• Consider the arm in position (θ1 , θ2 ) = (0, π/2). Assuming θ̈ = 0, we have
" # " # " #
ẍ2 −L1 θ̇12 0
= +
ÿ2 −L2 θ12 − L2 θ̇22 −2L2 θ̇1 θ̇2
| {z } | {z }
centripetal Coriolis
• Quadratic terms θ̇i2 are called centripetal terms, the mixed quadratic terms θ̇1 θ̇2 the Coriolis terms.
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Lagrangian dynamics: 2R open chain

• If θ̇2 = 0, no Coriolis and centrifugal accel. is (−L1 θ̇12 , −L2 θ̇12 ). Similarly, θ̇1 = 0, no Coriolis and
centrifugal accel. is (0, −L2 θ̇22 ). These accelerations keep the mass rotating around the joints 1
and 2 respectively.
• The Coriolis force appears if both θ̇i are non-zero. Note that its sign depends on the signs of the
θi ’s.

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Lagrangian dynamics for general chains

• For a general open chain with n links, we take the link angles θi as generalized coordinates and
the corresponding torques τi as generalized forces.
• The kinetic energy can always be written as

K (θ, θ̇) = θ̇⊤ M(θ)θ̇

for an appropriately defined mass matrix M(θ).

• The dynamics equation are then
d ∂L ∂L
τi = −
dt ∂ θ̇i ∂θi
for L = K − P with P(θ) the potential energy of the system.

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Lagrangian dynamics for general chains

• Written explicitly, we have

n n
X X ∂P
τi = mij (θ)θ̈j + Γijk (θ)θ̇j θ̇k +
j=1
∂θi
j,k=1

where  
1 ∂mij ∂mik ∂mjk
Γijk (θ) = + −
2 ∂θk ∂θj ∂θi
are the Christoffel’s symbols of the first kind.
• This dynamics is also written as

τ = M(θ)θ̈ + C (θ, θ̇)θ̇ + g (θ),

where M is the mass matrix, and C (θ, θ̇) ∈ Rn×n is the matrix with entries
n
X
cij = Γijk (θ)θ̇k .
k=1

It is called the Coriolis matrix.

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