A NOVEL METHODOLOGY FOR CHOOSING ACTUATORS OF CABLE-SUSPENDED PARALLEL ROBOTS

A novel methodology for choosing actuators of a CPR system was defined. This methodology was based on a novel procedure for analysis and synthesis of the workspace of Cable-suspended parallel robot, CPR system. Besides the kinematic and dynamic models of the CPR system, this procedure includes the complete mathematical model of the actuator as well. On this basis, this procedure presents a novel solution for the analysis and synthesis of CPR system’s workspace. When using the proposed methodology for choosing actuators of a CPR system, user and designer together define the corresponding technical requirements, one of them being the relative size of the feasible work space of the CPR system. Based on these requirements, the developed methodology tests available actuators from its data base and extracts the useful ones for the predefined specific purpose. The purpose of this research is to interconnect theoretical contributions from CPR system’s modelling and needs of the user and designer during their practical implementation. For this purpose, a user friendly program package called PPACM was generated. The program package PPACM and obtained results were validated through the presentation of several case studies

Redundant Unilaterally Actuated Kinematic Chains: Modeling and Analysis

Unilaterally Actuated Robots (UAR)s are a class of robots defined by an actuation that is constrained to a single sign. Cable robots, grasping, fixturing and tensegrity systems are certain applications of UARs. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in robotic and other mechanical systems actuated or constrained by cables. In such systems, an individual constraint is applied to a body of the mechanism in the form of a pure force which can change its magnitude but cannot reverse its direction. This uni-directional actuation complicates the design of cable-driven robots and can result in limited performance. Cable Driven Parallel Robot (CDPR)s are a class of parallel mechanisms where the actuating legs are replaced by cables. CDPRs benefit from the higher payload to weight ratio and increased rigidity. There is growing interest in the cable actuation of multibody systems. There are potential applications for such mechanisms where low moving inertia is required. Cable-driven serial kinematic chain (CDSKC) are mechanisms where the rigid links form a serial kinematic chain and the cables are arranged in a parallel configuration. CDSKC benefits from the dexterity of the serial mechanisms and the actuation advantages of cable-driven manipulators. Firstly, the kinematic modeling of CDSKC is presented, with a focus on different types of cable routings. A geometric approach based on convex cones is utilized to develop novel cable actuation schemes. The cable routing scheme and architecture have a significant effect on the performance of the robot resulting in a limited workspace and high cable forces required to perform a desired task. A novel cable routing scheme is proposed to reduce the number of actuating cables. The internal routing scheme is where, in addition to being externally routed, the cable can be re-routed internally within the link. This type of routing can be considered as the most generalized form of the multi-segment pass-through routing scheme where a cable segment can be attached within the same link. Secondly, the analysis for CDSKCs require extensions from single link CDPRs to consider different routings. The conditions to satisfy wrench-closure and the workspace analysis of different multi-link unilateral manipulators are investigated. Due to redundant and constrained actuation, it is possible for a motion to be either infeasible or the desired motion can be produced by an infinite number of different actuation profiles. The motion generation of the CDSKCs with a minimal number of actuating cables is studied. The static stiffness evaluation of CDSKCs with different routing topologies and isotropic stiffness conditions were investigated. The dexterity and wrench-based metrics were evaluated throughout the mechanism's workspace. Through this thesis, the fundamental tools required in studying cable-driven serial kinematic chains have been presented. The results of this work highlight the potential of using CDSKCs in bio-inspired systems and tensegrity robots

Desain Suspended Cable Driven Parallel Robot dengan Orientasi Tetap Berdasarkan Interference-free Workspace

Proses evakuasi korban bencana alam sangatlah sulit, mengingat keterbatasan kemampuan para tim penyelamat dan alat bantu yang masih mempunyai cakupan daerah kerja yang relatif sempit. Cable driven parallel robot (CDPR) merupakan sebuah robot yang dapat membantu proses evakuasi dan memiliki jangkauan yang luas serta kecepatan mobilitas yang tinggi. Penelitian kali ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan geometric model, static model, dan kinematic model dari Cable Driven Parallel berdasarkan parameter desain yang telah ditentukan. Selain itu, tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mendapatkan dimensi (panjang, lebar, tinggi) platform dan sususan kabel dari base ke platform agar mencapai interference-free workspace terbesar. Robot ini membutuhkan analisa yang akurat agar memenuhi tujuannya. Analisa tersebut antara lain adalah wrench feasible workspace (WFW), twist feasible workspace (TFW), cable to cable interference, dan cable to platform interference. Wrench feasible workspace merupakan sebuah proses pengujian statik CDPR. Twist feasible workspace bertujuan untuk menguji robot dari segi kinematiknya. Cable-cable interference dan cable-platform interference secara berurutan bertujuan untuk menghindari suatu tabrakan antar kabel dengan kabel dan kabel dengan platform CDPR. Penelitian dibagi menjadi tiga studi kasus. Perbedaan setiap studi kasus berada pada wrench external (gaya dan momen) yang berkerja pada mobile platform. Desain optimum telah didapatkan dari setiap studi kasus berdasarkan overall workspace terbesar. Pada studi kasus 1 didapatkan dua desain dengan workspace terbesar, yaitu mencapai 64,8% volume jangkauan robot. Pada studi kasus 2 menghasilkan tujuh desain dengan workspace terbesar, yaitu mencapai 19,6% dari volume jangkauan robot. Pada studi kasus 3 didapatkan empat desain dengan workspace terbesar, yaitu mencapai 10,6% dari volume jangkauan robot. ========================================================================================================== The evacuation process of natural disaster would be a difficult job, seeing that there are limits to the abilities of rescue teams as human beings and tools that exist right now still have a narrow workspace. Cable driven parallel robot (CDPR) is a robot which are designed to help evacuations. It has a large workspace and high mobility. This research was conducted in order to obtain the geometric model, static model, dan kinematic model of Cable Driven Parallel Robot based on pre-determined design parameters. In addition, the purpose of this research is also to get dimensions (length, width, and height) of the mobile platform and cable arrangements of the robot from base to mobile platform in order to achieve the largest interference-free workspace. The designing of this robot requires accurate analyses to achieve its objectives. The analyses include wrench feasible workspace (WFW), twist feasible workspace (TFW), cable to cable interference, and cable to platform interference. Wrench feasible workspace is a CDPR static testing. Twist feasible workspace aim to test kinematics of the robot. Cable to cable interference and cable to platform interference aim to avoid collision beetwen cables and between CDPR’s platform and cables, respectively. This study will be divided into three case studies. The Difference between each case study is the external wrench (forces and moments) that are applied on the mobile platform. The optimum design has been generated from each case study based on the largest overall workspace. In the first case study, two designs with the largest workspace are generated, which reached 64,8% of the robot’s range. In the second case study, seven designs with the largest workspace reaching 19,6% of the robot’s range are produced. In the third case study, four designs with the largest workspace are generated, which reached 10,6% of the robot’s range

Reconfigurable cable driven parallel mechanism

Due to the fast growth in industry and in order to reduce manufacturing budget, increase the quality of products and increase the accuracy of manufactured products in addition to assure the safety of workers, people relied on mechanisms for such purposes. Recently, cable driven parallel mechanisms (CDPMs) have attracted much attention due to their many advantages over conventional parallel mechanisms, such as the significantly large workspace and the dynamics capacity. In addition, it has lower mass compared to other parallel mechanisms because of its negligible mass cables compared to the rigid links. In many applications it is required that human interact with machines and robots to achieve tasks precisely and accurately. Therefore, a new domain of scientific research has been introduced, that is human robot interaction, where operators can share the same workspace with robots and machines such as cable driven mechanisms. One of the main requirements due to this interaction that robots should respond to human actions in accurate, harmless way. In addition, the trajectory of the end effector is coming now from the operator and it is very essential that the initial trajectory is kept unchanged to perform tasks such assembly, operating or pick and place while avoiding the cables to interfere with each other or collide with the operator. Accordingly, many issues have been raised such as control, vibrations and stability due the contact between human and robot. Also, one of the most important issues is to guarantee collision free space (to avoid collision between cables and operator and to avoid collisions between cables itself). The aim of this research project is to model, design, analysis and implement reconfigurable six degrees of freedom parallel mechanism driven by eight cables. The main contribution of this work will be as follow. First, develop a nonlinear model and solve the forward and inverse kinematics issue of a fully constrained CDPM given that the attachment points on the rails are moving vertically (conventional cable driven mechanisms have fixed attachment points on the rails) while controlling the cable lengths. Second, the new idea of reconfiguration is then used to avoid interference between cables and between cables and operator limbs in real time by moving one cable’s attachment point on the frame to increase the shortest distance between them while keeping the trajectory of the end effector unchanged. Third, the new proposed approach was tested by creating a simulated intended cable-cable and cable-human interference trajectory, hence detecting and avoiding cable-cable and cable-human collision using the proposed real time reconfiguration while maintaining the initial end effector trajectory. Fourth, study the effect of relocating the attachment points on the constant-orientation wrench feasible workspace of the CDPM. En raison de la croissance de la demande de produits personnalisés et de la nécessité de réduire les coûts de fabrication tout en augmentant la qualité des produits et en augmentant la personnalisation des produits fabriqués en plus d'assurer la sécurité des travailleurs, les concepteurs se sont appuyés sur des mécanismes robotiques afin d’atteindre ces objectifs. Récemment, les mécanismes parallèles entraînés par câble (MPEC) ont attiré beaucoup d'attention en raison de leurs nombreux avantages par rapport aux mécanismes parallèles conventionnels, tels que l'espace de travail considérablement grand et la capacité dynamique. De plus, ce mécanisme a une masse plus faible par rapport à d'autres mécanismes parallèles en raison de ses câbles de masse négligeable comparativement aux liens rigides. Dans de nombreuses applications, il est nécessaire que l’humain interagisse avec les machines et les robots pour réaliser des tâches avec précision et rapidité. Par conséquent, un nouveau domaine de recherche scientifique a été introduit, à savoir l'interaction humain-robot, où les opérateurs peuvent partager le même espace de travail avec des robots et des machines telles que les mécanismes entraînés par des câbles. L'une des principales exigences en raison de cette interaction que les robots doivent répondre aux actions humaines d'une manière sécuritaire et collaboratif. En conséquence, de nombreux problèmes ont été soulevés tels que la commande et la stabilité dues au contact physique entre l’humain et le robot. Aussi, l'un des enjeux les plus importants est de garantir un espace sans collision (pour éviter les collisions entre des câbles et un opérateur et éviter les collisions entre les câbles entre eux). Le but de ce projet de recherche est de modéliser, concevoir, analyser et mettre en œuvre un mécanisme parallèle reconfigurable à six degrés de liberté entraîné par huit câbles. La principale contribution de ces travaux de recherche est de développer un modèle non linéaire et résolvez le problème de cinématique direct et inverse d'un CDPM entièrement contraint étant donné que les points d'attache sur les rails se déplacent verticalement (les mécanismes entraînés par des câbles conventionnels ont des points d'attache fixes sur les rails) tout en contrôlant les longueurs des câbles. Dans une deuxième étape, l’idée de la reconfiguration est ensuite utilisée pour éviter les interférences entre les câbles et entre les câbles et les membres d’un opérateur en temps réel en déplaçant un point de fixation du câble sur le cadre pour augmenter la distance la plus courte entre eux tout en gardant la trajectoire de l'effecteur terminal inchangée. Troisièmement, la nouvelle approche proposée a été évaluée et testée en créant une trajectoire d'interférence câble-câble et câble-humain simulée, détectant et évitant ainsi les collisions câble-câble et câble-humain en utilisant la reconfiguration en temps réel proposée tout en conservant la trajectoire effectrice finale. Enfin la dernière étape des travaux de recherche consiste à étudiez l'effet du déplacement des points d'attache sur l'espace de travail réalisable du CDPM

Dimensioning of Cable-Driven Parallel Robot Actuators, Gearboxes and Winches according to the Twist Feasible Workspace

International audienceCable Driven Parallel Robots (CDPRs) are a particular class of parallel robots whose legs consist of cables. CDPRs are composed of several components, e.g. winches, pulleys and actuators. The design of a CDPR requires the dimensioning of all these components, according to the task to be performed. The dimensioning of the actuators, the gearboxes and the winches are strictly related to the performances of the CDPR in terms of the platform static and kinematic equilibrium. This paper introduces a new tool, the so called Twist Feasible Workspace (TFW), built in order to analyze the workspace of the platform twists. A pose is said to be twist feasible if the platform of the CDPR can assume a given range of linear and rotational velocities while satisfying the cable speed limits imposed by the actuators and the transmission systems. The size of the TFW is used as an optimization criterion for the dimensioning of the actuators and the winches

Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: ● Formulations and Numerical Methods ● Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications ● Flexible Multibody Dynamics ● Contact Dynamics and Constraints ● Multiphysics and Coupled Problems ● Control and Optimization ● Software Development and Computer Technology ● Aerospace and Maritime Applications ● Biomechanics ● Railroad Vehicle Dynamics ● Road Vehicle Dynamics ● Robotics ● Benchmark ProblemsPostprint (published version

Multibody dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: Formulations and Numerical Methods, Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications, Flexible Multibody Dynamics, Contact Dynamics and Constraints, Multiphysics and Coupled Problems, Control and Optimization, Software Development and Computer Technology, Aerospace and Maritime Applications, Biomechanics, Railroad Vehicle Dynamics, Road Vehicle Dynamics, Robotics, Benchmark Problems. The conference is organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona. The organizers would like to thank the authors for submitting their contributions, the keynote lecturers for accepting the invitation and for the quality of their talks, the awards and scientific committees for their support to the organization of the conference, and finally the topic organizers for reviewing all extended abstracts and selecting the awards nominees.Postprint (published version

Cumulative index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1986-1990, volumes 10-14

Tech Briefs are short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This cumulative index of Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes (subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief number) and covers the period 1986 to 1990. The abstract section is organized by the following subject categories: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, computer programs, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences