This paper deals with the jerk-minimization trajectory planning of robotic arms, in order to meet the increasing demands of the practical tasks that require fast motion planning of highly dynamic real-time movements for the task execution, by means of polynomial curve-based trajectory design. By solving a constrained quadratic optimization problem, the trajectory planning is optimized by minimizing the jerk of the robot end-effector. Experimental pick-and-place operations are carried out in comparison with the trajectory design without optimization and non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) curve, respectively, from which the results show the trajectory optimization is applicable in real-time trajectory planning. Both the numerical simulation and experimental implementations validate the presented approach of optimizing trajectory planning and show the effectiveness.