A study of workspace and singularity characteristics for design of 3-DOF planar parallel robots

A study of workspace and singularity characteristics is presented for two common types of 3-DOF planar parallel robot manipulators. The robots considered feature a kinematic structure with three in-parallel actuated, R-R-R, and R-P-R serial chain geometries. In this study, computer simulations aided with graphic visualization were used to characterize the complete pose workspace (for ranges of both position and orientation) and the singularity inherent to the systems. Parametric studies have also been performed to ascertain the way in which both characteristics vary with respect to various geometric parameters such as pivot locations, link lengths, and size of end-effector. Results are shown by way of a unique composite ratio of the available workspace to the density of singularity within that workspace, which can be used to optimize the geometry of the robots in design.