Kinematic analysis of a 3-PRS parallel manipulator

Although the current 3-PRS parallel manipulators have different methods on the arrangement of actuators, they may be considered as the same kind of mechanism since they can be treated with the same kinematic algorithm. A 3-PRS parallel manipulator with adjustable layout angle of actuators has been proposed in this paper. The key issues of how the kinematic characteristics in terms of workspace and dexterity vary with differences in the arrangement of actuators are investigated in detail. The mobility of the manipulator is analyzed by resorting to reciprocal screw theory. Then the inverse, forward, and velocity kinematics problems are solved, which can be applied to a 3-PRS parallel manipulator regardless of the arrangement of actuators. The reachable workspace features and dexterity characteristics including kinematic manipulability and global dexterity index are derived by the changing of layout angle of actuators. Simulation results illustrate that different tasks should be taken into consideration when the layout angles of actuators of a 3-PRS parallel manipulator are designed.     

Kinematic analysis of a flexible six-DOF parallel mechanism.

In this paper, a new type of six-degrees of freedom (DOF) flexible parallel mechanism (FPM) is presented. This type of parallel mechanism possesses several favorable properties: (1) its number of DOFs is independent of the number of serial chains which make up the mechanism; (2) it has no kinematical singularities; (3) it is designed to move on rails, and therefore its workspace is much larger than that of a conventional parallel manipulator; and (4) without changing the number of DOFs and the kinematics of the mechanisms, the number of the serial chains can be reconfigured according to the needs of the tasks. These properties make the mechanism very preferable in practice, especially for such tasks as joining huge ship blocks, in which the manipulated objects vary dramatically both in weights and dimensions. Furthermore, the mechanism can be used as either a fully actuated system or an underactuated system. In the fully actuated case, the mechanism has six DOF motion capabilities and manipulation capabilities. However, in the underactuated case, the mechanism still has six DOF motion capabilities, but it has only five DOF manipulation capabilities. In this paper, both the inverse and forward kinematics are studied and expressed in a closed form. The workspace and singularity analysis of the mechanism are also presented. An example is presented to illustrate how to calculate the kinematics of the mechanism in both fully-actuated and underactuated cases. Finally, an application of such a mechanism to manufacturing industry is introduced.     

A 3-DOF parallel manufacturing module and its kinematic optimization

Parallel tool heads with three degrees of freedom (DOFs), namely, two orientational DOFs and one translational DOF, have become important manufacturing module in the field of machine tools so that these have drawn extensive attention from academia and industry. A decoupled 3-DOF parallel tool head without parasitic motion is proposed in this paper, and a detailed discussion of the architecture of the tool head is presented. On the basis of the tilt-and-torsion angles and the roll–pitch–yaw angles, the inverse kinematics of the tool head is analyzed and its orientational capability is investigated. To explore the potential of the proposed tool head, two cases are identified and discussed respectively. Taking motion/force transmissibility into consideration, performance indices with respect to the local transmission index are defined and the corresponding atlases are presented. Using the atlases as bases and the optimal kinematic designs of the tool head is carried out. A preferable set of optimized parameters is obtained after comparing the results of the two cases, and the optimized result is used in the development of the tool head.     

Optimal design of a 3-PUPU parallel robot with compliant hinges for micromanipulation in a cubic workspace

In recent years, nanotechnology has been developing rapidly due to its potential applications in various fields that new materials and products are produced. In this paper, a novel macro/micro 3-DOF parallel platform is proposed for micro positioning applications. The kinematics model of the dual parallel mechanism system is established by the stiffness model with individual wide-range flexure hinge and the vector-loop equation. The inverse solutions and parasitic rotations of the moving platform are obtained and analyzed, which are based on a parallel mechanism with real parameters. The reachable and usable workspace of the macro motion and micro motion of the mechanism are plotted and analyzed. Finally, based on the analysis of parasitic rotations and usable workspace of micro motion, an optimization for the parallel manipulator is presented. The investigations of this paper will provide suggestions to improve the structure and control algorithm optimization for the dual parallel mechanism in order to achieve the features of both larger workspace and higher motion precision.     

Kinematic design of a 6-DOF parallel manipulator with decoupled translation and rotation

A new three-limb, six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel manipulator (PM), termed a selectively actuated PM (SA-PM), is proposed. The end-effector of the manipulator can produce 3-DOF spherical motion, 3-DOF translation, 3-DOF hybrid motion, or complete 6-DOF spatial motion, depending on the types of the actuation (rotary or linear) chosen for the actuators. The manipulator architecture completely decouples translation and rotation of the end-effector for individual control. The structure synthesis of SA-PM is achieved using the line geometry. Singularity analysis shows that the SA-PM is an isotropic translation PM when all the actuators are in linear mode. Because of the decoupled motion structure, a decomposition method is applied for both the displacement analysis and dimension optimization. With the index of maximal workspace satisfying given global conditioning requirements, the geometrical parameters are optimized. As a result, the translational workspace is a cube, and the orientation workspace is nearly unlimited.     

Matrix modeling of inverse dynamics of spatial and planar parallel robots

Recursive matrix relations for kinematics and dynamics analysis of two known parallel mechanisms: the spatial 3-PRS and the planar 3-RRR are established in this paper. Knowing the motion of the platform, we develop first the inverse kinematical problem and determine the positions, velocities, and accelerations of the robot’s elements. Further, the inverse dynamic problem is solved using an approach based on the principle of virtual work, and the results can be verified in the framework of the Lagrange equations with their multipliers. Finally, compact matrix equations and graphs of simulation for power requirement comparison of each of three actuators in two different actuation schemes are obtained. For the same evolution of the moving platform, the power distribution upon the three actuators depends on the actuating configuration, but the total power absorbed by the set of three actuators is the same, at any instant, for both driving systems. The study of the dynamics of the parallel mechanisms is done mainly to solve successfully the control of the motion of such robotic systems.     

Dynamic Manipulation Inspired by the Handling of a Pizza Peel

This paper discusses dynamic manipulation inspired by the handling mechanism of a pizza chef. The chef handles a tool called “pizza peel,” where a plate is attached at the tip of a bar, and he remotely manipulates a pizza on the plate. We found that he aggressively utilizes only two degrees of freedom (DOFs) from the remote handling location during manipulation: translation along the bar and rotation about the bar. From the viewpoint of a dynamic system, the inertial loads for these specific DOFs are never affected by the length of the bar. This is important for the production of quick plate motions so that the object on the plate can be dynamically and remotely manipulated. Applying this handling mechanism to a robot system, we first reveal how to make the object's motion for three DOFs by using two DOFs of plate motion. We then show that it is guaranteed to achieve an arbitrary desired set of position and orientation of the object by the proposed manipulation scheme. The proposed method has good manipulability because the translational motion of the object can be fully decoupled from the rotational motion (though not vice versa). Finally, we show a couple of experiments that confirm the basic idea.      

Design and kinetostatic analysis of a new parallel manipulator

This paper proposes an innovative design for a parallel manipulator that can be applied to a machine tool. The proposed parallel manipulator has three degrees of freedom (DOFs), including the rotations of a moving platform about the x and y axes and a translation of this platform along the z-axis. A passive link is introduced into this new parallel manipulator in order to increase the stiffness of the system and eliminate any unexpected motion. Both direct and inverse kinematic problems are investigated, and a dynamic model using a Newton–Euler approach is implemented. The global system stiffness of the proposed parallel manipulator, which considers the compliance of links and joints, is formulated and the kinetostatic analysis is conducted. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the applications of the kinematic and dynamic models and to verify the concept of the new design.     

基于Leap Motion的机械臂交互控制研究

针对多旋转自由度机械臂的便捷控制问题,建立了一种联接体感设备Leap Motion与六自由度机械臂的交互控制系统。在体感输入和机械臂运动响应模型中,利用基于几何方法的机械臂运动学逆解,提出一种增加求解约束,二分搜索末端抓取器最优空间位姿的解法。这种解法运行效率高,求解过程直观,能够在对数级时间内求解。经过仿真和实物实验验证,该解法具备处理大量体感输入数据,实现机械臂实时响应的能力,为非触控式的体感机械臂控制提供了一种可行方案。     

基于频分复用的多路微电容检测技术

为使静电悬浮微电机的环形转子稳定悬浮在定子电极腔体的几何中心,需要采用差动电容式传感器检测转子沿五个自由度的运动,然后通过静电悬浮控制系统实现有源静电支承。根据频分复用原理,设计了一套可检测悬浮式转子五个自由度运动的微电容检测电路。采用多路高频正弦信号作为载波加载至与各自由度对应的控制/检测电极上,通过公共电极输出反映转子沿各自由度位移变化的调幅信号,然后经过交流放大、相敏解调、低通滤波后得到各自由度位移检测信号。文中介绍了微电容检测电路的组成及原理,分析了电路特性,给出了x轴检测电路的测试结果。实验表明,检测电路的灵敏度为23.3 V/pF,通频带为10.58 kHz,零位稳定性优于0.1 mV。     

人手食指运动学建模

通过分析人手解剖学结构和观察人手运动特性,提出如下观点：（1）食指指掌关节具有两个轴线垂直相交的旋转自由度,两轴线相对于手掌不同的排列顺序对应于两种不同的运动学模型,指掌关节只能是其中的一种;（2）食指指掌关节的两个自由度在运动极限位置具有相关性．通过实验测绘出人手食指的工作空间形状,将之与两种可能的食指运动学模型对应的工作空间相比较,判别出指掌关节的真实运动学结构,并验证了指掌关节极限位置上两个自由度运动相关性．在上述工作基础上建立了符合人手实际结构的手指运动学模型．     

Dimensional synthesis of a 3-DOF parallel manipulator based on dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian matrix

A study of dimensional synthesis of a 3-DOF parallel manipulator with coupling of translation and rotation is carried out.The architecture of the manipulator is composed of a moving platform attached to a fixed base through three identical PRS(prismatic-revolute-spherical) serial limbs,whose unique topology leads to the physical unit inconsistency of the conventional Jacobian matrix and the emergence of the parasitic motion.Then this paper introduces a kinetostatic performance index of the manipulator based...     

Pose Controlled Physically Based Motion

In this paper we describe a new method for generating and controlling physically‐based motion of complex articulated characters. Our goal is to create motion from scratch, where the animator provides a small amount of input and gets in return a highly detailed and physically plausible motion. Our method relieves the animator from the burden of enforcing physical plausibility, but at the same time provides full control over the internal DOFs of the articulated character via a familiar interface. Control over the global DOFs is also provided by supporting kinematic constraints. Unconstrained portions of the motion are generated in real time, since the character is driven by joint torques generated by simple feedback controllers. Although kinematic constraints are satisfied using an iterative search (shooting), this process is typically inexpensive, since it only adjusts a few DOFs at a few time instances. The low expense of the optimization, combined with the ability to generate unconstrained motions in real time yields an efficient and practical tool, which is particularly attractive for high inertia motions with a relatively small number of kinematic constraints.     

在线考虑运动学限制的最小加速度的轨迹规划

提出了一种基于简化运动规划的机器人轨迹规划新方法,可用于多自由度的机器人操作臂系统。关键问题是找到最小加速度的轨迹规划,来优化操作臂的运动以减少抖动。此外,给出了轨迹规划的解存在的充分必要条件,并考虑了所有的关节位置、角速度、加速度、加加速度等运动学限制。而且这种方法能够在线应用,适合任意非零的关节初始状态和目标状态,以便使机器人能够在运动过程中进行实时路径修正。最后提出的方法应用于一个七自由度的仿人机器人手臂来验证方法的有效性。     

一种并联激光焊接机器人的机构设计与运动学分析

提出了一种3 分支5 自由度的并联激光焊接机器人,通过3 个分支共同作用,使整机具备了5 个自由 度的空间加工能力．针对激光焊接,通过分析该机器人的结构特性,建立了其正反解运动学模型,通过解析法求解 该模型并进行了计算仿真．最后,对机器人进行激光拼焊实验,仿真数据和实验结果表明,本文研究的并联机器人 机构适用于实际的高速、高精度激光焊接．     

Design and Control of a Four‐Wheeled Omnidirectional Mobile Robot with Steerable Omnidirectional Wheels

Omnidirectional mobile robots are capable of arbitrary motion in an arbitrary direction without changing the direction of wheels, because they can perform 3 degree‐of‐freedom (DOF) motion on a two‐dimensional plane. In this research, a new class of omnidirectional mobile robot is proposed. Since it has synchronously steerable omnidirectional wheels, it is called an omnidirectional mobile robot with steerable omnidirectional wheels (OMR‐SOW). It has 3 DOFs in motion and one DOF in steering. One steering DOF can function as a continuously variable transmission (CVT). CVT of the OMR‐SOW increases the range of velocity ratio from the wheel velocities to robot velocity, which may improve performance of the mobile robot. The OMR‐SOW with four omnidirectional wheels has been developed in this research. Kinematics and dynamics of this robot will be analyzed in detail. Various tests have been conducted to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed mechanism and control algorithm. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A parasitic type piezoelectric actuator with an asymmetrical flexure hinge mechanism

A parasitic type actuator with an asymmetrical flexure hinge mechanism has been proposed in this study to achieve linear motion with a large working stroke. The principal output direction of the piezoelectric stack is vertical to the motion direction of the mover to obtain a large output load. The composition of the parasitic type actuator and working process are introduced and parasitic motion is explained. Finite element method has been applied to analyze the parasitic motion of the proposed asymmetrical flexure hinge mechanism. Moreover, an experiment system of the parasitic type actuator is set up, and experiments show that the positioning resolution of the actuator is around 0.1 μm; the maximum motion speed could achieve to 2850 μm/s when the input frequency f = 500 Hz and the input voltage U_e = 100 V; the maximum output force F_g is up to 750 g when the input frequency f = 1 Hz and the input voltage U_e = 100 V. This study indicates that the asymmetrical flexure hinge mechanism could achieve parasitic motion for the design and application of piezoelectric actuators with a large working stroke.

     

基于深度值的虚拟人手臂运动规划

提出了基于深度值（z buffer值）的虚拟人手臂运动规划新方法,将路径规划算法--A*算法扩展到三维空间,并利用图形硬件获得的深度值进行碰撞检测,解决了受限空间的运动规划问题。仿真结果显示,能快速有效的实现虚拟人手臂7个自由度的运动规划。