In robotics, inverse kinematics makes use of the kinematics equations to determine the joint parameters that provide a desired configuration (position and rotation) for each of the robot’s end-effectors.^[4] This is important because robot tasks are performed with the end effectors, while control effort applies to the joints. Determining the movement of a robot so that its end-effectors move from an initial configuration to a desired configuration is known as motion planning. Inverse kinematics transforms the motion plan into joint actuator trajectories for the robot.^[2] Similar formulas determine the positions of the skeleton of an animated character that is to move in a particular way in a film, or of a vehicle such as a car or boat containing the camera which is shooting a scene of a film. Once a vehicle’s motions are known, they can be used to determine the constantly-changing viewpoint for computer-generated imagery of objects in the landscape such as buildings, so that these objects change in perspective while themselves not appearing to move as the vehicle-borne camera goes past them.

The movement of a kinematic chain, whether it is a robot or an animated character, is modeled by the kinematics equations of the chain. These equations define the configuration of the chain in terms of its joint parameters. Forward kinematics uses the joint parameters to compute the configuration of the chain, and inverse kinematics reverses this calculation to determine the joint parameters that achieve a desired configuration.