Robot Arm Kinematics: From Servo PWM to Inverse Kinematics
You can make a servo arm reach a point you choose—understanding forward and inverse kinematics, the reachable workspace, and singularities before you touch hardware.
Robot arm kinematics is the geometry that connects two things a manipulator has to reconcile: the joint angles it can actually command, and the tool position you want in the world. Going one way—angles to position—is forward kinematics, and it is easy. Going the other way—position to angles—is inverse kinematics, and it is where the interesting problems live: two solutions, edges you cannot reach, and poses where the arm briefly loses control of a direction.
This path builds that understanding from the ground up. You start with the hardware—getting a servo to move to a commanded angle through a PCA9685 driver, calibration and all. Then you learn the geometry: how a two-link arm’s angles place its tool, and how to invert that to reach a target. Finally you explore it live in the simulator, dragging a target and watching the solver pick joint angles, hit the workspace boundary, and flag the unreachable.
Follow the nodes in order—each unlocks the next once you have done it, and your progress saves on this device. When you are ready to build the real thing, this path feeds straight into the 4-DOF robot arm project.
Learning roadmap
The path
Follow the nodes in order—each unlocks the next once you have done it. Your progress saves on this device.
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