A survey on precision of redundantly actuated DELTA-type parallel kinematic mechanisms

摘要

Precision is an important feature in modern robotics and manipulation technology. Elevation of the robot's end-effector precision depends on different features as stiffness, tolerance etc. which should be considered during the synthesis and design phase of the manipulator. The focus of this study is on the structural stiffness of parallel kinematic manipulators (PKM) exhibiting actuation redundancy. It is determined how the stiffness depends on physical and geometrical characteristics of the manipulator and how it is possible to take advantage of redundancy to enhance the stiffness of the manipulator. It is shown that redundantly actuated PKM (RA-PKM) with components made of softer and accordingly lighter materials demonstrate comparable stiffness to the non-redundant manipulators which consequently decrease the required energy for moving the dead-load in operation. Based on the model built in this study, optimizations are conducted and manipulators with optimal morphologies for different tasks are introduced. As a case study, RA-PKM of type n-R RPaRs are considered.