Kinematic analysis of 3SPS+1PS bionic parallel test platform for hip joint simulator based on unit quaternion

As a novel parallel hip joint simulator, the 3SPS+1PS bionic parallel test platform with 4 degrees of freedom including three rotations and one translation is proposed. SPS denotes the spherical-prismatic-spherical leg and PS denotes the prismatic-spherical leg where only the prismatic joint is actuated and hence underlined. By means of the unit quaternion method, the formulae for solving the inverse/forward displacement, the inverse/forward velocity and the inverse/forward acceleration kinematics are derived. Using the unit quaternion to represent the position and orientation of a moving platform, singularities caused by Euler angles can be avoided. Combining the topological structure characteristics of the 3SPS+1PS bionic parallel test platform and letting the three-dimensional (3-D) motion of a human hip joint as its output movement, the displacement trajectories of three active legs are constructed based on the inverse displacement kinematics. The forward kinematic tests whose data are recorded by a 3-D orientation capture system are carried out on the developed parallel hip joint simulator. Moreover, the results of the forward kinematic tests prove that the 3SPS+1PS bionic parallel test platform can approximately represent human hip joint motion and provide more reliable experimental data for hip joint prostheses in clinical application.