Designing a Translational Parallel Manipulator Based on the 3SS Kinematic Joint

Abstract

Nowadays, translational parallel manipulators are widely used in industrial applications related to pick and place tasks. In this paper, a new architecture of a translational parallel manipulator without floating prismatic joints and without redundant constraints is presented, which leads to a robust design from the manufacturing and maintenance point of view. The frame configuration has been chosen with the aim of achieving the widest and most regular operational workspace completely free of singularities. Besides, the position equations of the proposed design are obtained in a closed form, as well as the singularity locus. It will be shown that the proposed design owns a very simple kinematics so that the related equations can be efficiently implemented in the control of the robot. In addition, the Jacobian condition number assessment shows that a wide part of the operational workspace is well-conditioned, and also the existence of an isotropic configuration will be proved. Finally, a prototype has been built by following a modular design approach.