Denavit-Hartenberg Parameters

What is Denavit-Hartenberg Parameters?

A standardised convention, introduced in a 1955 paper, that reduces the geometry of each link in a serial robot arm to exactly four parameters. Building a table of these parameters for every joint gives a completely systematic, unambiguous way to describe — and compute the kinematics of — a robot arm of essentially any configuration.

The five clues

Engineerdle #67 described Denavit-Hartenberg Parameters with five clues, revealed one at a time from hardest to most direct. Each clue points at a different property of the concept.

1. 01A standardised way of describing something that could otherwise be described a dozen different ways.
2. 02It reduces the geometry of a robotic link to exactly four numbers.
3. 03Every serial-link robot arm can be fully described using a table built from it.
4. 04It was introduced in a 1955 paper by two mechanical engineers.
5. 05A standardised convention using four parameters per joint to systematically describe a robot arm's link geometry.