Abstract
The design of a robot manipulator to perform a certain task needs the knowledge of the forces and moments exerted on its joints due to static and dynamic loads. This paper presents a mathematical algorithm for computing the joint forces and moments of the robot arm using the Newton-Euler formulation due to a specified load at its end effector. The computation complexity of an n joint robot arm of a general structure is optimized to need 107n multiplications, 113n additions and 81n equations. A computer program has been developed to perform these computations. Two examples are presented to show the computation procedure: a simple arm of two links and the J PL robot arm of six links. This study is very important for the choice of robot dimensions, the material and shapes of links, and the actuators of joints. It provides the predesign stage of robot manipulators.