How could I plot a parametric surface with many variables?

Hello,

I've been having trouble figuring this out. I have a robotic arm with four revolute links. The position at the end of the robotic arm is parametricized by four angle variables a,b,c and d. So essentially:

    X = f(a,b,c,d)
    Y = g(a,b,c,d)
    Z = h(a,b,c,d)

I want to plot all the possible positions that the end point of the robot will have. I imagine this would be a surface plot.

What I've tried so far: I've tried vectorizing a through d between -pi/2 to pi/2 (assuming there is only a half circle range of positions for each link. Then using ndgrid(a,b,c,d), then using multiple types of plotting functions such as: plot3, surf, mesh, but none seem to work (I am sure I'm probably using them incorrectly.)

What has worked, but not entirely what I wanted: I was able to obtain a parametric space curve though by using X, Y, and Z as vectors for their respective a, b, c and d, but this only gives me one possible motion for when all the angles change in a step-wise pattern.

Maybe what I want to do is not possible. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a ton. :]

Answer 1

[Matt J]

then using multiple types of plotting functions such as: plot3, surf, mesh, but none seem to work

I think SCATTER3 is going to be more appropriate than the plotting functions you've listed here.