Int. J.

of Computers, Communications & Control, ISSN 1841-9836, E-ISSN 1841-9844

Vol. III (2008), No. 3, pp. 224-234

Neuro-Fuzzy based Approach for Inverse Kinematics Solution

of Industrial Robot Manipulators
Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam
Abstract: Obtaining the joint variables that result in a desired position of the robot
end-effector called as inverse kinematics is one of the most important problems in
robot kinematics and control. As the complexity of robot increases, obtaining the
inverse kinematics solution requires the solution of non linear equations having transcendental functions are difficult and computationally expensive. In this paper, using
the ability of ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System) to learn from training data, it is possible to create ANFIS, an implementation of a representative fuzzy
inference system using a BP neural network-like structure, with limited mathematical
representation of the system. Computer simulations conducted on 2 DOF and 3DOF
robot manipulator shows the effectiveness of the approach.
Keywords: Neuro-Fuzzy, ANFIS, Robot manipulator, Inverse kinematics

Introduction

A robot manipulator is composed of a serial chain of rigid links connected to each other by revolute
or prismatic joints. A revolute joint rotates about a motion axis and a prismatic joint slide along a motion
axis. Each robot joint location is usually defined relative to neighboring joint. The relation between
successive joints is described by 4 4 homogeneous transformation matrices that have orientation and
position data of robots. The number of those transformation matrices determines the degrees of freedom
of robots. The product of these transformation matrices produces final orientation and position data of a
n degrees of freedom robot manipulator. Robot control actions are executed in the joint coordinates while
robot motions are specified in the Cartesian coordinates. Conversion of the position and orientation of a
robot manipulator end-effector from Cartesian space to joint space, called as inverse kinematics problem,
which is of fundamental importance in calculating desired joint angles for robot manipulator design and
control.
For a manipulator with n degree of freedom, at any instant of time joint variables is denoted by
i = (t), i = 1, 2, 3, ..., n and position variables x j = x(t), j = 1, 2, 3, ..., m. The relations between the
end-effector position x(t) and joint angle (t) can be represented by forward kinematic equation,
x(t) = f ( (t))

(1)

where f is a nonlinear, continuous and differentiable function. On the other hand, with the given desired
end effector position, the problem of finding the values of the joint variables is inverse kinematics, which
can be solved by,
(t) = f 0 (x(t))
(2)
Solution of (2) is not unique due to nonlinear, uncertain and time varying nature of the governing
equations. Figure 1 shows the schematic representation of forward and inverse kinematics. The different techniques used for solving inverse kinematics can be classified as algebraic [1], geometric [2]
and iterative [3]. The algebraic methods do not guarantee closed form solutions. In case of geometric
methods, closed form solutions for the first three joints of the manipulator must exist geometrically. The
iterative methods converge to only a single solution depending on the starting point and will not work
near singularities.
If the joints of the manipulator are more complex, the inverse kinematics solution by using these
traditional methods is a time consuming. In other words, for a more generalized m degrees of freedom
Copyright 2006-2008 by CCC Publications

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manipulator, traditional methods will become prohibitive due to the high complexity of mathematical
structure of the formulation. To compound the problem further, robots have to work in the real world that
cannot be modeled concisely using mathematical expressions. In recent years, there have been increasing

Forward kinematics
Joint space
variables

Task space
variables
Inverse kinematics

Figure 1: Schematic representation of forward and inverse kinematics

research interest of artificial neural networks and many efforts have been made on applications of neural
networks to various control problems. The most significant features of neural networks are the extreme
flexibility due to the learning ability and the capability of nonlinear functions approximations. This fact
leads us to expect neural networks to be a excellent tool for solving the inverse kinematics problem in
robot manipulators with overcoming the difficulties of algebraic, geometric and iterative methods.
Fuzzy Inference Systems are the most popular constituent of the soft computing area since they are
able to represent human expertise in the form of IF antecedent THEN consequent statements. In this
domain, the system behavior is modeled through the use of linguistic descriptions. Although the earliest
work by Prof. Zadeh on fuzzy systems has not been paid as much attention as it deserved in early
1960s, since then the methodology has become a well-developed framework. The typical architectures
of fuzzy inference systems are those introduced by Wang [4][5], Takagi and Sugeno [6] and Jang [7].
In [4], a fuzzy system having Gaussian membership functions, product inference rule and weighted
average defuzzifier is constructed and has become the standard method in most applications. Takagi and
Sugeno change the defuzzification procedure where dynamic systems are introduced as defuzzification
subsystems. The potential advantage of the method is that under certain constraints, the stability of the
system can be studied.
Utilization of Neural networks (NN) and Fuzzy logic for solving the inverse kinematics is much
reported [8]-[13]. Li-Xin Wei et al [14]., and Rasit Koker et al [15]., proposed neural network based
inverse kinematics solution of a robotic manipulator. There exist numerous possibilities for the fusion of
neural networks and fuzzy logic technique so that both of them can overcome their individual drawbacks
as well as benefit from each others merits. Jang et al [16]., propose an Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference
System, in which a polynomial is used as the defuzzifier. This structure is commonly referred to as
ANF1S. In this paper, neuro-fuzzy systems which provide fuzzy systems with automatic tuning using
Neural network (ANFIS) is used to solve the inverse kinematics problem. The paper is organized as
follows, in section 2, the structure of ANFIS used is presented. Section 3 describes simulation results
and discussion. Conclusion and acknowledgment are followed in section 4 and 5 respectively.

ANFIS Architecture

This section introduces the basics of ANFIS network architecture and its hybrid learning rule. Inspired by the idea of basing the fuzzy logic inference procedure on a feedforward network structure,
Jang [16] proposed a fuzzy neural network model - the Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System or semantically equivalently, Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), whose architecture
is shown in Figure 2. He reported that the ANFIS architecture can be employed to model nonlinear
functions, identify nonlinear components on-line in a control system, and predict a chaotic time series. It

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Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam

is a hybrid neuro-fuzzy technique that brings learning capabilities of neural networks to fuzzy inference
systems. The learning algorithm tunes the membership functions of a Sugeno-type Fuzzy Inference System using the training input-output data. A detailed coverage of ANFIS can be found in [7],[16]-[17].
The ANFIS is, from the topology point of view, an implementation of a representative fuzzy inference
tion, and nonlinear system identification, can be found in [Jan97, pp. 335-363, pp. 503-523].
Layer1

Layer2

Layer3

Layer4

1
2
3
M1

x1
Mq

1
2

Layer5

3
q

1
2
3
M1

xp
1
Mq

2
3
q
x

x1 , x2 ,

, xp

Figure 2: Structure of ANFIS

system using a BP neural network-like structure. It consists of five layers. The role of each layer is
briefly presented as follows: let Oli denote the output of node i in layer l, and xi is the ith input of the
ANFIS, i = 1, 2, ..., p. In layer 1, there is a node function M associated with every node:
O1i = Mi (xi )

(3)

The role of the node functions M1 , M2 , ...Mq here is equal to that of the membership functions (x) used
in the regular fuzzy systems, and q is the number of nodes for each input. Gaussian shape functions
are the typical choices. The adjustable parameters that determine the positions and shapes of these node
functions are referred to as the premise parameters. The output of every node in layer 2 is the product of
all the incoming signals:
O2i = Ml (xl )ANDM j (x j )
(4)
Each node output represents the firing strength of the reasoning rule. In layer 3, each of these firing
strengths of the rules is compared with the sum of all the firing strengths. Therefore, the normalized
firing strengths are computed in this layer as:
O3i =

O2i
i O2i

(5)

Layer 4 implements the Sugeno-type inference system, i.e., a linear combination of the input variables
of ANFIS, x1 , x2 , ...x p plus a constant term, c1 , c2 , ...c p , form the output of each IF T HEN rule. The

Neuro-Fuzzy based Approach for Inverse Kinematics Solution

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227

output of the node is a weighted sum of these intermediate outputs:

p

O4i = O3i (Pj x j + c j )

(6)

j=1

where parameters P1 , P2 , ..., Pp and c1 , c2 , ..., c p , in this layer are referred to as the consequent parameters.The node in layer 5 produces the sum of its inputs, i.e., defuzzircation process of fuzzy system (using
weighted average method) is obtained:
O5i = O4i
(7)
i

The flowchart of ANFIS procedure is shown in Figure 3. ANFIS distinguishes itself from normal
fuzzy logic systems by the adaptive parameters, i.e., both the premise and consequent parameters are
adjustable. The most remarkable feature of the ANFIS is its hybrid learning algorithm. The adaptation

Initialize the fuzzy system

Use genfis1 or genfis2 commands

Give the parameters for learning

Number of Iterations (epochs)
Tolerance (error)

Start learning process

Use command anfis
Stop when tolerance is achieved

Validate
With independent data

Figure 3: ANFIS procedure

process of the parameters of the ANFIS is divided into two steps. For the first step of the consequent
parameters training, the Least Squares method (LS) is used, because the output of the ANFIS is a linear
combination of the consequent parameters. The premise parameters are fixed at this step. After the
consequent parameters have been adjusted, the approximation error is back-propagated through every
layer to update the premise parameters as the second step. This part of the adaptation procedure is based
on the gradient descent principle, which is the same as in the training of the BP neural network. The
consequence parameters identified by the LS method are optimal in the sense of least squares under
the condition that the premise parameters are fixed. Therefore, this hybrid learning algorithm is more
effective than the pure gradient decent approach, because it reduces the search space dimensions of the
original back propagation method. The pure BP learning process could easily be trapped into local
minima. When compared with employing either one of the above two methods individually, the ANFIS
converges with a smaller number of iteration steps with this hybrid learning algorithm.
This paper considers the ANFIS structure with first order Sugeno model containing 49 rules. Gaussian membership functions with product inference rule are used at the fuzzification level. Hybrid learning

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Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam

algorithm that combines least square method with gradient descent method is used to adjust the parameter
of membership function.

Simulation and Results

Figure 4 and 5 shows the two degree of freedom (DOF) and three DOF planar manipulator arm which
is simulated in this work.

Figure 4: Two DOF manipulator

3.1

Figure 5: Three DOF manipulator

Two Degree of Freedom planar manipulator

For a 2 DOF planar manipulator having l1 and l2 as their link lengths and 1 ,2 as joint angles with
x, y as task coordinates the forward kinematic equations are,
x = l1 cos(1 ) + l2 cos(1 + 2 )

(8)

y = l1 sin(1 ) + l2 sin(1 + 2 )

(9)

and the inverse kinematics equations are,

1 = atan2(y, x) atan2(k2 , k1 )

(10)

2 = atan2(sin2 , cos2 )

(11)

where, k1 = l1 + l2 cos2 , k2 = l2 sin2 , cos2 =

(x2 +y2 l12 l22 )

2l1 l2

and sin2 =

p
(1 cos2 2 ).

Considering length of first arm l1 = 10 and length of second arm l2 = 7 along with joint angle
constraints 0 < 1 < 2 , 0 < 2 < , the x and y coordinates of the arm are calculated for two joints using
forward kinematics. Figure 6 shows the workspace for two link planar arm. The codes are written in
MATLAB 7 Release 14.
The coordinates and the angles are used as training data to train ANFIS network with Gaussian
membership function with hybrid learning algorithm. Figure 7 and Figure 8 shows the training data of
two ANFIS networks for two joint angles. Figure 9 shows the difference in theta deduced analytically
and the data predicted with ANFIS.

Neuro-Fuzzy based Approach for Inverse Kinematics Solution

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229

XY Coordinates generated for the joint angles using forward kinematics

16
14

Y Coordinates

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
5

5
X Coordinates

10

15

Figure 6: Workspace for two link planar arm

400
0
100

300
output

200
300

200

400

100

500
600

700
800

100

900

15
15

10

10

input2

15
15
10

10

5
0

5
input1

Figure 7: Training data of 1 for 2DOF

manipulator

0
input2

5
input1

Figure 8: Training data of 2 for 2DOF

manipulator

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Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam

Joint angle 1(Deduced Predicted)

x 10

THETA1Diff

2
0
2
4
6

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

300

350

400

450

Joint angle 2(Deduced Predicted)

x 10

THETA2iff

4
2
0
2
4

50

100

150

200

250

Figure 9: Difference in theta deduced and the data predicted with ANFIS trained for 2DOF manipulator

3.2

Three Degree of Freedom planar manipulator

For a 3 DOF planar redundant manipulator, the forward kinematic equations are,
x = l1 cos(1 ) + l2 cos(1 + 2 ) + l3 cos(1 + 2 + 3)

(12)

y = l1 sin(1 ) + l2 sin(1 + 2 ) + l3 sin(1 + 2 + 3)

(13)

= 1 + 2 + 3

(14)

2 = atan2(sin2 , cos2 )

(15)

1 = atan2((k1 yn k2 xn ), (k1 xn k2 yn )

(16)

3 = (1 + 2 )

(17)

and the inverse kinematics equations are,

where, k1 = l1 + l2 cos2 , k2 = l2 sin2 , cos2 =

and yn = y l3 sin .

(x2 +y2 l12 l22 )

,
2l1 l2

sin2 =

(1 cos2 2 ), xn = x l3 cos

For simulation, the length for three links are l1 = 10, l2 = 7 and l3 = 5 with joint angle constraints
0 < 1 < 3 , 0 < 2 < 2 , 0 < 3 < coordinates of the arm are calculated for two joints using forward
kinematics. Figure 10 shows the workspace for three link planar arm. The coordinates and the angles are
used as training data to train ANFIS network with Gaussian membership function with hybrid learning
algorithm. Figure 11, Figure 12 and Figure 13 shows the training data of three ANFIS networks for three
joint angles. Figure 14 shows the difference in theta deduced analytically and the data predicted with
ANFIS.

Neuro-Fuzzy based Approach for Inverse Kinematics Solution

of Industrial Robot Manipulators

231

XY Coordinates generated for all joint angle combinations using Forward Kinematics
25

Y Coordinates

20

15

10

0
10

10

15

20

25

X coordinates

Figure 10: Workspace for three link planar arm

40
10
20
output

output

0
0

10

20
20
40
20

20
15
10
5
input2

10

15

20

15

10
5
input2

input1

Figure 11: Training data of 1 for 3DOF

manipulator

40
output

10

15

20

input1

Figure 12: Training data of 2 for 3DOF

manipulator

60

20
0
20
20
15
10
5
input2

10

15

20

input1

Figure 13: Training data of 3 for 3DOF manipulator

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Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam

Deduced theta1 Predicted theta1

0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

300

350

400

450

300

350

400

450

THETA2D THETA2P

Deduced theta2 Predicted theta2

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1

50

100

150

200

250

Deduced theta3 Predicted theta3

0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2

50

100

150

200

250

Figure 14: Difference in theta deduced and the data predicted with ANFIS trained for 3 DOF manipulator

Summary and Conclusions

The difference in theta deduced and the data predicted with ANFIS trained for two and three degree of
freedom planar manipulator clearly depicts that the proposed method results in an acceptable error. Also
the ANFIS converges with a smaller number of iteration steps with the hybrid learning algorithm. Hence
trained ANFIS can be utilized to provide fast and acceptable solutions of the inverse kinematics thereby
making ANFIS as an alternate approach to map the inverse kinematic solutions. Other techniques like
input selection, tuning methods and alternate ways to model the problem may be explored for reducing
the error further.

Acknowlegements

The authors wish to thank the program committee of ICCCC 2008 for the recommendation of an
extended version for publication in the Journal.

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[3] J. U. Korein, N. I. Balder, Techniques for generating the goal-directed motion of articulated structures, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 2, Issue. 9, pp. 71-81, 1982.

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Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering
Roorkee - 2477667, Uttarkhand, INDIA
E-mail: seenu.phd@gmail.com, mkndnfec@iitr.ernet.in
Received: June 09, 2008

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Srinivasan Alavandar, M. J. Nigam

Srinivasan Alavandar was born in India in 1978. Presently he is a
PhD student in the field of Electronics & Computer Engineering
at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He received his
Bachelors and Masters in Electrical & Electronics Engineering
at Alagappa Chettiar College of Engg. & Technology and PSG
College of Technology respectively. He has published several
papers in refereed International Journals and International conferences. He serves as reviewer and Technical editor of various
refereed International Journals. He also served as a Lecturer
of Electrical Engineering at Arunai Enigneering College. His
research interests include intelligent control, soft computing,
robot control, quantum control. He was selected for Marquis
Whos Who in the World biography, for his outstanding research
contribution in control engineering and a recipient of the award
of Ministry of Human Resources and Development Fellowship
for his doctoral research.

M. J. Nigam was born in India in 1953. He received the B.Tech.

Electronics and Communication Engineering from Regional
Engineering College, Warangal, 1976, the M.E. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering with specialization in
Control & Guidance in 1978 and the research work leading to the
award of Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering
in 1992 from University of Roorkee, Roorkee, India. He was a
faculty member in the Department of Electronics Engineering,
M.M.M. Engg. College and Banaras Hindu University respectively. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in Electronics and
Computer Department at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.
His main research interests are high-resolution intelligent vision
systems, smart/brilliant/Intelligent weapons like ICBM, & real
time adaptive filtering, smoothing and prediction. A number of
research articles in the above areas have also been published/
presented in various journals and Conferences etc.