Abstract
Quaternions are a more elegant and more efficient way to characterize rotations than rotation matrices. They allow us to represent every 3D orientation with a 3D vector. This chapter explains quaternions, their properties, and how they relate to rotation matrices. Gibbs vectors (sometimes also referred to as “rotation vectors”) are introduced. And practical examples show how to work efficiently with quaternions.
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Notes
- 1.
Some authors call Gibbs vectors “rotation vectors”.
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Haslwanter, T. (2018). Quaternions and Gibbs Vectors. In: 3D Kinematics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75277-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75277-8_4
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Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75277-8
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