Inverse kinematics by numerical and analytical cyclic coordinate descent

Cyclic coordinate descent (CCD) inverse kinematics methods are traditionally derived only for manipulators with revolute and prismatic joints. We propose a new numerical CCD method for any differentiable type of joint and demonstrate its use for serial-chain manipulators with coupled joints. At the same time more general and simpler to derive, the method performs as well in experiments as the existing analytical CCD methods and is more robust with respect to parameter settings. Moreover, the numerical method can be applied to a wider range of cost functions.