This project explored trajectory planning for a 2-link, 2-DOF robotic manipulator using a direct optimal control framework implemented via interior-point optimization (IPopt) in CasADi. Simulations were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach under different objective functions, including minimizing input energy, execution time, and applied torque. The project demonstrated how varying operational goals can be achieved through appropriate cost function selection. The results underscore the method’s adaptability to diverse real-world applications, from time-critical industrial tasks to energy-efficient motion in resource-constrained settings.