Reachability Optimization for an Autonomous Soil Sampling Platform with the Central Opening*

This paper presents a method for optimizing the dimensions of the central opening in the mobile platform, ensuring adequate surface reachability for a 6-DOF robotic arm. The reachability map is extended with the concept of 8 Configuration Reachability to account for the redundancy of the arm, where up to eight possible joint configurations exist for a given pose of the end effector. Additionally, Weighted Reachability is proposed to quantify reachability throughout the workspace, taking into account the varying importance of surfaces, such as the ground and walls. By varying the dimensions of the central opening; width, length, height, and offset, dimension of the platform is determined for optimal reachability. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which achieves high reachability for selected configurations. The findings provide a practical basis for the design of mobile platforms with a robotic arm, particularly those with a central opening for operational tasks.