Kane's approach to modeling mobile manipulators

The paper presents a detailed methodology for dynamic modeling of wheeled nonholonomic mobile manipulators using Kane's dynamic equations. This methodology allows construction of the dynamic model simply and incrementally. The resulting model is obtained in closed form, it is computationally efficient and provides physical insight as to what forces really influence the system dynamics. Using this methodology, nonholonomic constraints can be directly incorporated within the model without introducing multipliers. The model constructed in the paper includes constraints for no slipping, no skidding and no tipover. The kinematic description of these constraints provides only necessary conditions and description is completed with dynamic expressions which is also sufficient for motion stability. The dynamic model and the constraint relations provide a framework for developing control strategies for mobile manipulators.