Input/output force analysis of parallel link manipulators

Abstract

This paper proposes a method to evaluate kinematic structures of parallel link manipulators based on the relation between actuator forces/moments and output forces/moments of the mechanisms. As is well known, actuator forces/moments of manipulators are related to output forces/moments by a manipulator Jacobian. The input/output force analyses proposed so far have been based on the manipulator Jacobian, in which forces and moments are dealt with together. However, it is not natural to deal with both force and moment together, since the force and the moment have different dimensions. In this paper. We analyze manipulators by dealing with the output forces and the output moments independently. We evaluate the translationability and the rotationability of the manipulators based on the output forces and moments for input forces/moments. The kinematic structure is then analyzed based on the translationability and the rotationability of the manipulators. The proposed method is natural and intuitive, in the sense that forces and moments having different dimensions are dealt with separately, and is useful for the design of the manipulator kinematic structure.