  $ $Deriving a robot's equation of motion typically requires placing multiple
coordinate frames, commonly using the Denavit-Hartenberg convention to express
the kinematic and dynamic relationships between segments. This paper presents
an alternative using the differential geometric method of Exponential Maps,
which reduces the number of coordinate frame choices to two. The traditional
and differential geometric methods are compared, and the conceptual and
practical differences are detailed. The open-source software, Exp[licit], based
on the differential geometric method, is introduced. It is intended for use by
researchers and engineers with basic knowledge of geometry and robotics. Code
snippets and an example application are provided to demonstrate the benefits of
the differential geometric method and assist users to get started with the
software.
