Efficient Hodge-Helmholtz decomposition of motion fields
Pattern Recognition Letters - Special issue: Advances in pattern recognition
Geometric Motion Planning Analysis for Two Classes of Underactuated Mechanical Systems
International Journal of Robotics Research
International Journal of Robotics Research
Biomimetic Centering for Undulatory Robots
International Journal of Robotics Research
Geometric Methods for Modeling and Control of Free-Swimming Fin-Actuated Underwater Vehicles
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
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The locomotion of articulated mechanical systems is often complex and unintuitive, even when considered with the aid of reduction principles from geometric mechanics. In this paper, we present two tools for gaining insights into the underlying principles of locomotion: connection vector fields and connection height functions. Connection vector fields illustrate the geometric structure of the relationship between internal shape changes and the system body velocities they produce. Connection height functions measure the curvature of their respective vector fields and capture the net displacement over any cyclic shape change, or gait , allowing for the intuitive selection of gaits to produce desired displacements. Height function approaches have been previously attempted, but such techniques have been severely limited by their basis in a rotating body frame, and have only been useful for calculating planar rotations and infinitesimal translations. We circumvent this limitation by introducing a notion of optimal coordinates defining a body frame that rotates very little in response to shape changes, while still meeting the requirements of the geometric mechanics theory on which the vector fields and height functions are based. In these optimal coordinates, the height functions provide close approximations of the net displacement resulting from a broad selection of possible gaits.