The book evolved from sets of lecture notes developed at McGill University over the last 12 years, while I was teaching a two-semester sequence of courses on robotic mechanical systems. For this reason, the book comprises two parts—an introductory and an intermediate part on robotic mechanical systems. Advanced topics, such as redundant manipulators, manipulators with ?exible links and joints, and force control, are omitted. The feedback control of robotic mechanical systems is also omitted, although the book refers the reader, when appropriate, to the specialized literature. An aim of the book is to serve as a textbook in a 1-year robotics course; another aim is to serve as a reference to the practicing engineer.
The book assumes some familiarity with the mathematics taught in any engineering or science curriculum in the ?rst 2 years of college. Familiarity with elementary mechanics is helpful, but not essential, for the elements of this science needed to understand the mechanics of robotic systems are covered in the ?rst three chapters, thereby making the book self-contained. These three chapters, moreover, are meant to introduce the reader to the notation and the basics of mathematics and rigid-body mechanics needed in the study of the systems at hand. The material covered in the same chapters can thus serve as reading material for a course on the mathematics of robotics, intended for sophomore students of science and engineering, prior to a more formal course on robotics.