ComputerGraphics

In this project, we explored the topic of inverse kinematics in computer graphics through rendering a moving 3D robot arm. The robot arm is constructed with bones and different types of joints, where bones are modeled with cylinders of variable height and radius and joints are modeled with spheres and cylinders. Three types of joints were implemented, an axial joint with 1 degrees of freedom, a hinge joint with 1 degrees of freedom, and a ball joint with 3 degrees of freedom. Many different variations of the robot arm can be constructed by picking a combination of bones and joints. The Jacobian inverse technique is used to solve the inverse kinematics problem given the end effector and a target. Two methods can be used for the robot arm to reach the target. First, an iterative method that steps the delta angle provided from the singular value decomposition of the Jacobian, and second, a predefined trajectory characterized by a linear or Bezier curve.