Book Description

Presented here is an integrated approach - perhaps the first in its class - of advanced Rigid Body Kinematics with the object-oriented C++ code that implements the rigid body objects and brings them to life. Thinking in terms of objects is the natural way of thinking. The concept of object has existed in Science for centuries. More recently, objects were introduced in Computation, and object-oriented programming languages were created. Yet the concept of object is not routinely used when teaching Science, and the idea that objects can come alive in a computer has not yet been fully exploited.This book is Volume 2 of the multi-volume series "Articulated Robot Mechanics and C++ Code". Volume 1 is "Vectors, Matrices and C++ Code", published in 2004. Volumes to be published are "Articulated Robot Dynamics and C++ Code", and "Articulated Robot Control and C++ Code". More volumes may be added in the future.This book integrates advanced rigid body Kinematics with object-oriented concepts and the actual code implementing them. It is both a textbook and a software release, complete with software documentation and the mathematical background that supports the code. The source code is included by download and readers can use it for their own programming. The reader will need a basic knowledge of Physics, particularly Mechanics, and Algebra and Trigonometry. Familiarity with C++ is not required because a course on C++ is included in Volume 1. You should read this book if you are a developer who needs an advanced background in rigid body Kinematics, a student of Physics or Engineering who needs to learn C++, a scientist who needs to write advanced code but can't waste time developing the basics, or you just need ready-to-use C++ source code for your project.