Changing Assembly Modes without Passing Parallel Singularities in Non-Cuspidal 3-R\underline{P}R Planar Parallel Robots

This paper demonstrates that any general 3-DOF three-legged planar parallel robot with extensible legs can change assembly modes without passing through parallel singularities (configurations where the mobile platform loses its stiffness). While the results are purely theoretical, this paper questions the very definition of parallel singularities.Comment: 2nd International Workshop on Fundamental Issues and Future Research Directions for Parallel Mechanisms and Manipulators, Montpellier : France (2008

Synthesis of Planar Parallel Mechanism

Parallel mechanisms are found as positioning platforms in several applications in robotics and production engineering. Today there are various types of these mechanisms based on the strcture, type of joints and degree of freedom. An important and basic planar mechanism providing three degree of freedom at the end-effector (movable platform) is a 3-RPR linkage. Here the underscore below P indicates the presence of actuated prismatic joints and 3 indicates the number of legs used to carry the mobile platform. A lot of work has been done on this mechanism since 1988. In the present work, the kinematics of 3-RPR linkage is specifically studied to understand the synthesis procedure. The forward kinematics in parallel mechanisms is a multi-solution problem and involves cumbersome calculations compared to inverse kinematics. In inverse kinematics, we design the actuator input kinematic parameters for a known table center coordinates. In other words it is a transformation of platform pose vector to the actuator degrees of freedom. In 3-RPR mechanism considered in present task, the actuators are sliders and hence the slider displacements reflect the input degrees of freedom. On the other hand, for a known posture (available slider displacement status), the table center coordinates are predicted in forward kinematics. In present work, forward kinematics solutions are obtained by defining error function and optimizing it using genetic algorithms programs. Also, the workspace and Jacobian matrices are computed at corresponding solution and singularity analysis is briefly highlighted

WORKSPACE ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE PARALLEL ROBOTS BASED ON COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN APPROACH

This paper provides workspace determination and analysis based on the graphical technique of both spatial and planar parallel manipulators. The computation and analysis of workspaces will be carried out using the parameterization and three-dimensional representation of the workspace. This technique is implemented in CAD (Computer Aided Design) Software CATIA workbenches. In order to determine the workspace of the proposed manipulators, the reachable region by each kinematic chain is created as a volume/area; afterwards, the full reachable workspace is obtained by the application of a Boolean intersection function on the previously generated volumes/areas. Finally, the relations between the total workspace and the design parameters are simulated, and the Product Engineering Optimizer workbench is used to optimize the design variables in order to obtain a maximized workspace volume. Simulated annealing (SA) and Conjugate Gradient (CG) are considered in this study as optimization tools

Parallel Manipulators

In recent years, parallel kinematics mechanisms have attracted a lot of attention from the academic and industrial communities due to potential applications not only as robot manipulators but also as machine tools. Generally, the criteria used to compare the performance of traditional serial robots and parallel robots are the workspace, the ratio between the payload and the robot mass, accuracy, and dynamic behaviour. In addition to the reduced coupling effect between joints, parallel robots bring the benefits of much higher payload-robot mass ratios, superior accuracy and greater stiffness; qualities which lead to better dynamic performance. The main drawback with parallel robots is the relatively small workspace. A great deal of research on parallel robots has been carried out worldwide, and a large number of parallel mechanism systems have been built for various applications, such as remote handling, machine tools, medical robots, simulators, micro-robots, and humanoid robots. This book opens a window to exceptional research and development work on parallel mechanisms contributed by authors from around the world. Through this window the reader can get a good view of current parallel robot research and applications

Kinematics and workspace analysis of a 3ppps parallel robot with u-shaped base

This paper presents the kinematic analysis of the 3-PPPS parallel robot with an equilateral mobile platform and a U-shape base. The proposed design and appropriate selection of parameters allow to formulate simpler direct and inverse kinematics for the manipulator under study. The parallel singularities associated with the manipulator depend only on the orientation of the end-effector, and thus depend only on the orientation of the end effector. The quaternion parameters are used to represent the aspects, i.e. the singularity free regions of the workspace. A cylindrical algebraic decomposition is used to characterize the workspace and joint space with a low number of cells. The dis-criminant variety is obtained to describe the boundaries of each cell. With these simplifications, the 3-PPPS parallel robot with proposed design can be claimed as the simplest 6 DOF robot, which further makes it useful for the industrial applications

Pantopteron-4: a New 3T1R Decoupled Parallel Manipulator for Pick-and-Place Applications

International audienceIn this paper, a novel 4-DOF decoupled parallel manipulator with Schoenflies motions, called the Pantopteron-4, is presented. This manipulator is able to perform the same movements as the Isoglide4 or the Quadrupteron, but, due to its architecture which is made of three pantograph linkages, an amplification of the movements between the actuators and the platform displacements is achieved. Therefore, having the same actuators for both robots, the Pantopteron-4 displaces (theoretically) many-times faster than the Isoglide4 or the Quadrupteron, depending on the magnification factor of the pantograph linkages. Thus, this mechanism is foreseen to be used in applications where the velocities and accelerations have to be high, as in pick-and-place. First, the kinematics of the Pantopteron-4 is presented. Then, its workspace is analyzed. Finally, a prototype of the mechanism is shown and conclusions are given

Sensitivity analysis of 3-RPR planar parallel manipulators

International audienceThis paper deals with the sensitivity analysis of 3-RPR planar parallel manipulators (PPMs). First, the sensitivity coefficients of the pose of the manipulator moving platform to variations in the geometric parameters and in the actuated variables are expressed algebraically. Moreover, two aggregate sensitivity indices are determined, one related to the orientation of the manipulator moving platform and another one related to its position. Then, a methodology is proposed to compare 3-RPR PPMs with regard to their dexterity, workspace size and sensitivity. Finally, the sensitivity of a 3-RPR PPM is analyzed in detail and four 3-RPR PPMs are compared as illustrative examples