Maximal Vs. Minimal Coordinates

TL;DR: Maximal coordinates are easier for the developers/maintainers but only lead to slower evaluation. Minimal coordinates require more jumping through hoops but lead to faster evaluation and therefore are preferred from the user standpoint.

RMS: Now I'm not sure about this...

• In maximal coordinates, we always need to solve all constraints explicitly. This is computationally expensive.

Solving Equations of Motion for Articulated Rigid Bodies

with constraints

Maximal Coordinates -> Lagrange Multiplier Method -> $O(n^3)$

• because the mass matrix must be inverted

Minimal Coordinates -> Featherstone Algorithm -> $O(n)$