Forward Kinematics in Polynomial Form of the General Stewart Platform1

Abstract

The paper presents a new algorithm to solve, in polynomial form, the forward kinematics of the general-geometry 6-6 fully-parallel manipulator. The forty solutions that the problem at hand admits in the complex domain are found by determining the roots of a 40th-order univariate polynomial equation. Unlike the existing algorithm, the proposed one is suitable for implementation in a standard floating-point computation environment. A numerical example shows application of the new algorithm to a case study.