Inverse Kinematics

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Overview

Inverse kinematics (IK) finds joint configurations that place a robot’s end effector, or an articulated body’s limbs, at desired poses; it is central to manipulation, teleoperation, motion capture, and animation. Classical approaches include geometric and algebraic solutions, Jacobian-based methods such as damped least squares, and constrained optimization with null-space control for redundancy, joint limits, and collision avoidance. Learned methods use neural networks, graph models, and generative models to produce fast or multiple candidate solutions, often combined with classical refinement. A key challenge is balancing speed and accuracy with smooth motion and safety near singularities, while making learned solvers generalize across robots and difficult or unreachable targets.

Latest papers

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40 papers4 papers in the last four weeks, down 43% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Quantum Closed Loop Inverse Kinematics Through Hilbert-Space Encoding of Robot Kinematics

    Oct 24, 2026Andrea Morghen, Pierluigi Arpenti, Roberto Schiattarella +2Robot KinematicsInverse Kinematics

    University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

  2. Modeling and Control of a Rigid-soft Hybrid-link Humanoid Robot

    Oct 10, 2026Zewen He, Taiki Ishigaki, Ko YamamotoHumanoid Robot ControlRobotic Control

    Department of Mechano-informatics, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, 113-8656, Tokyo, Japan

  3. Post-Grasp Kinematic Repair for Robotic Insertion via Object-in-Gripper Reorientation

    Oct 6, 2026Haegu Lee, Christoffer SlothIn-Hand ManipulationRobotic Insertion

    The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

  4. Real-Time Conformal-Seeded Hybrid Inverse Kinematics for Offset Redundant Manipulators

    Oct 3, 2026Duc Cuong Vu, Van Tung Nguyen, Duc Hai Nguyen +3Inverse Kinematics

    VinRobotics, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam · School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University 639798, Singapore · VinRobotics JSC, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam +1

  5. MorphIK: Morphology-Conditioned Neural Inverse Kinematics for Unknown Robots

    Sep 24, 2026Lennart Clasmeier, Jan Gerrit Habekost, Cornelius Weber +1Cross-Embodiment Robot LearningInverse Kinematics

    Knowledge Technology Group, Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  6. LOInK: Learned Optimal Inverse Kinematics via Structured Neural Surrogate Models

    Sep 18, 2026Michael Somerfield, Damian Abood, Ruigang Wang +1Inverse KinematicsRobot Kinematics

    Australian Robotic Inspection and Asset Management (ARIAM) Hub, the Australian Centre for Robotics (ACFR), and the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Australia

  7. Approximating High Dimensional Self-Motion Manifolds via Deep Generative Models

    Sep 16, 2026Haitao Gao, Yang Song, Liao WuManifold LearningInverse Kinematics

    School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia · School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

  8. Modular Kinematic Reduction of Closed-Chain Mechanisms Using Path Assembly and Defect Homotopy

    Sep 10, 2026Mohammad Dastranj, Jouni MattilaInverse Kinematics

    Unit of Automation Technology and Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, 33720 Tampere, Finland

  9. Planning along Differentiable Charts of Constraint Manifolds with General-Purpose IK Solvers

    Sep 9, 2026Thomas Cohn, Seiji Shaw, Harel Biggie +3Constrained Motion PlanningTrajectory Optimization

    Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

  10. Geometric analysis of generic 3R robots, and necessary and sufficient conditions for a class of orthogonal robots to have four IKS

    Aug 31, 2026Durgesh Haribhau Salunkhe, Abhilash NayakRoboticsInverse Kinematics

  11. Inverse kinematic solution for generic 3R positional robots using Conformal Geometric Algebra

    Aug 31, 2026Abhilash Nayak, Durgesh Haribhau SalunkheInverse KinematicsRobot Kinematics

  12. Embodying Multi-Hand Manipulation Policies by Searching the Assignment and Null Spaces

    Jul 24, 2026Yorai Shaoul, Jiaoyang Li, Maxim LikhachevMulti-Robot Motion PlanningConstrained Motion Planning

    The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

  13. The Twist Decomposition of Serial Robots Under Lower-Mobility Tasks

    Jul 21, 2026Luc Baron, Damien ChablatRobot KinematicsRobotics

    IICiMed · Polytechnique Montréal, box 6079, sta. CV, QC, H3C 3A7 Canada · box 6079, sta. CV, QC, H3C 3A7 Canada +2

  14. Trajectory Planning and Certification for 3-DOF Robot Manipulators Using Real Quantifier Elimination Based on Comprehensive Gröbner Systems

    Jul 13, 2026Yu Nakai, Akira Terui, Masahiko MikawaInverse KinematicsRobot Motion Planning

    University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

  15. CR-Solver: GPU-Accelerated Kinematics Solver for Tendon-driven Continuum Robots

    Jul 13, 2026Heqing Yang, Yang Yi, Linqing Zhong +2Constrained Motion PlanningRobot Motion Generation

    Beihang University.

  16. Revisiting Euler-Angle Regression with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks

    Jul 10, 2026Yangting Sun, Zijun Cui, Yufei ZhangObject Pose EstimationKolmogorov-Arnold Networks

    Independent Researcher · Michigan State University

  17. Biomechanics-aware Multi-view Markerless Motion Capture of Dexterous Hand Movements

    Jul 2, 2026Pouyan Firouzabadi, J. D. Peiffer, Kunal Shah +4Markerless Motion Capture3D Hand Pose Estimation

    Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, US · Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago, IL, US · Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US +1

  18. Real-Time Compliance and Position Control of a Hyper-redundant Soft Robotic Arm

    Jun 29, 2026Runze Zuo, Tianhua Zou, Naike Wu +2Robotic ControlImpedance Control

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.

  19. MimicIK: Real-Time Generative Inverse Kinematics from Teleoperation with FK Consistency

    Jun 13, 2026Jiahao Yang, Shenhao Yan, Fan Feng +5Robotic ManipulationInverse Kinematics

    1Ising AI · 2CUHK-Shenzhen · Ising AI

  20. A New Quaternion-Joint Cable-Driven Redundant Manipulator Configuration and its Control Through FABRIK and Residual Reinforcement Learning

    Jun 3, 2026Tanapath Pornthisan, Thanapat Kemthong, Thanyapisit Kangsathien +3Robotic ControlRobotic Manipulation

    International School of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

  21. Actuator-Aware Inverse Kinematics with Joint-Limit Admissibility for Torque-Controlled Redundant Robots

    May 29, 2026Mohammad Dastranj, Mahdi Hejrati, Jouni MattilaInverse Kinematics

    Unit of Automation Technology and Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Tampere University, 33720 Tampere, Finland

  22. Implicit Null-space Manifold Generation for Redundant Robotic Systems

    May 25, 2026Taiki Ishigaki, Teresa Vidal-Calleja, Ko Ayusawa +1Inverse Kinematics

    Tokyo University of Science, Japan · University of Technology Sydney, Australia · National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan

  23. Whole-Body Inverse Kinematics with Graph Diffusion

    May 23, 2026Helong Huang, Kai Tan, Feng Wen +2Graph Neural NetworksInverse Kinematics

    Large Model Algorithm Lab, Huawei

  24. How Many Training Samples Are Needed for the Inverse Kinematics Solutions by Artificial Neural Networks

    May 22, 2026Dong-Won LimSample ComplexityInverse Kinematics

    The University of Suwon, Hwaseong 18323, Republic of Korea

  25. SmoCap: Unified Scale-Pose Canonicalization with Proxy-Mapped Trust-Region QP

    May 20, 2026Shihao Li, Naohiko SugitaMarkerless Motion Capture3D Human Pose Estimation

    The Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering, The University of Tokyo

  26. Amortized Inverse Kinematics via Graph Attention for Real-Time Human Avatar Animation

    Apr 17, 2026Muhammad Saif Ullah Khan, Chen-Yu Wang, Tim Prokosch +3Human Avatar AnimationInverse Kinematics

    1German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) · 2RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau · 3International University of Applied Sciences

  27. Singularity Avoidance in Inverse Kinematics: A Unified Treatment of Classical and Learning-based Methods

    Apr 15, 2026Vishnu Rudrasamudram, Hariharasudan MalaichameeInverse KinematicsJacobian Regularization

  28. A virtual-variable-length method for robust inverse kinematics of multi-segment continuum robots

    Apr 2, 2026Weiting Feng, Federico Renda, Yunjie Yang +1RoboticsInverse Kinematics

    the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K. · Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

  29. Bridging Discrete Planning and Continuous Execution for Redundant Robot

    Apr 2, 2026Teng Yan, Yue Yu, Yihan Liu +1Robot Motion PlanningMotion Planning

    Thrust of Artificial Intelligence, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511400, China

  30. Global Geometry of Orthogonal Foliations of Signed-Quadratic Systems

    Apr 2, 2026Antonio FranchiInverse Kinematics

    Robotics and Mechatronics Department, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science Faculty, University of Twente, The Netherlands. · Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.