Entropy based approach to manipulator performance measures

The paper introduces the new concept of kinematics entropy and utilizes it for performance measures of manipulators. Kinematics entropy is used in a probabilistic framework to propose global measures for the performance of manipulators, which are then specialized to local performance measures. Certain properties of the Jacobian matrix are derived to enable dimensional and unit consistent measures for manipulability. New local manipulability and condition number are proposed that are based on entropy. Examples of a redundant and a non-redundant manipulator are presented to demonstrate the concepts and the usefulness of the measures introduced in the paper in comparison with conventional performance measures