Repeatability of inverse kinematics algorithms for mobile manipulators

We introduce and examine the property of repeatability of inverse kinematics algorithms for mobile manipulators. Similarly to stationary manipulators, repeatability of mobile manipulators is defined by requiring that a closed path in the taskspace should be transformed by the inverse kinematics algorithm into a closed path in the configuration space. In a simply connected, singularity-free region of the taskspace a necessary and sufficient condition for repeatability is derived as the integrability condition of a distribution associated with the inverse kinematics algorithm.