Abstract
In this work we present a new software tool for helping students perform basic kinematic analysis using Internet. It allows students to model and analyze planar multibody systems with rigid bodies. Master objects that contain data and algorithms for modeling and analyzing rigid bodies and lower kinematic pairs have been developed following an object-oriented approach. The layouts of the objects are discussed and the way of instancing them for defining a model of a multibody system is described. The student can analyze interactively the model created in this way, using the software tool itself, or he can export it to the MAPLE code. From MAPLE the student can obtain, in an automatic way, numerical or closed-form solutions of the kinematic equations.
