The configuration spaces (c-space) of mechanisms and robots can in many cases be presented as an algebraic variety. Different motion modes of mechanisms and robots are found as irreducible components of the variety. Singularities of the variety correspond usually (but not necessarily) to intersections of irreducible components/motion modes of the configuration space. A well-known method for finding the modes is the prime (and/or primary) decomposition of the constraint ideal corresponding to the mechanisms specific constraint map. However the direct computation of these decompositions is still in many cases too exhausting at least for standard computers. In this paper we present a method to speed up the decomposition significantly. If the mechanism consists or is constructed of subsystems whose c-space can be decomposed in feasible time then the whole decomposition of the c-space of the mechanism can be constructed from the decompositions of the subsystems. Here we concentrate on the 4-bar-sub systems but the approach generalizes naturally to more complicated subsystems as well. In fact the method works for all mechanisms which are constructed of subsystems whose decomposition is already known or can be computed. Further we present a way to investigate the nature of singularities which relies on the computation of the tangent cone at singular points of the c-space and the investigation of the primary decomposition of the tangent cone itself and partially its connection to intersection theory of algebraic varieties.
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