A general approach for modeling robots

Modeling manipulators has been an important part in robotic simulations. There are various types of robot systems used in today's robotic research and application, e.g., the six axis industrial robots, humanoid redundant manipulators and 4 finger grippers. Therefore, the model's structure can be very complex, requiring techniques for both modeling and simulating the system. "Traditional" simulation packages handle each robot respectively. This paper presents a formal model for arbitrary manipulators or grippers and implement the theoretical ideas into a real modeling and simulation tool.