11 Self-Motion Planning with ZIV Constraint

The number of DOF is very vital for a manipulator. A manipulator is kinematically and/or functionally redundant when more DOF are available than the minimum number required to perform the primary task of a specific manipulator. Compared with a non-redundant manipulator, a redundant manipulator has wider operational space and extra degrees to configure the manipulator to meet additional functional constraints without affecting the position (and/or orientation) of the end-effector. Therefore, much attention and effort in the robotic research community have been paid to studies on and applications of redundant robot manipulators.