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Kinematics of A Three-Dof Platform
Kinematics of A Three-Dof Platform
Kinematics of A Three-Dof Platform
LUNG-WEN TSAI
Mechanical Engineering Department
and
Institute for Systems Research
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A
1. Introduction
401
Note that the only six-limbed, six-DOF parallel manipulators for which
closed-form direct kinematic solutions have been reported in the literature
are special forms of the Stewart platform (Nanua et al., 1990; Grffis and
Duffy, 1989; Innocenti and Parenti-Castelli, 1990; Lin et al., 1994; Zhang
and Song, 1994). In these special forms, pairs of concentric spherical joints
may present design and manufacturing problems. As to the general Stew-
art platform, researchers have to resort to numerical techniques for the
solutions. Innocenti and Parenti-Castelli (1993) developed an exhaustive
mono-dimensional search algorithm to find the direct kinematics of the gen-
eral Stewart platform. Raghavan (1993) showed that the general Stewart
platform has 40 direct kinematics solutions by applying the continuation
method.
To overcome the above shortcomings, parallel manipulators with fewer
than six-DOF (F < 6) have been investigated. These F < 6 manipulators
can maintain all the advantages of a parallel manipulator and, if prop-
erly designed, they also have the advantage of having closed-form direct
kinematics solutions. For examples, Sternheim (1987) and Clavel (1988)
designed a four-DOF high-speed robot called the "Delta" robot. Lee and
Shah (1987) analyzed a three-DOF parallel manipulator. Although, these
two robots possess closed-form direct kinematics solutions, the Delta robot
contains twelve (12) spherical joints while Lee and Shah's manipulator con-
tains three (3) spherical joints. In addition, the position and orientation of
Lee and Shah's manipulator are coupled. Recently, Tsai et al. (1996) intro-
duced a novel three-DOF translational platform which is made up of only
403
2. Mechanism Description
A schematic of the parallel manipulator is shown in Fig. 1, where the fixed
base is labeled as link 0 and the moving platform is labeled as link 1.
Three identical limbs connect the moving platform to the fixed base by
universal joints at points Bi and A, i = 1,2, and 3, respectively. Each limb
consists of an upper member and a lower member (links 2 and 5 for the
first limb, 3 and 6 for the second limb, and 4 and 7 for the third limb)
that are connected together by a prismatic joint, Pi. The base connected
axes of the universal joints, Ai, i = 1,2, and 3, are co-planar. Similarly, the
moving-platform connected axes of the universal joints, B i , i = 1,2, and 3,
are also co-planar. The axes of the two universal joints that are attached to
the upper and lower members of each limb are parallel to each other and
are perpendicular to the axis of the prismatic joint. The three limbs are
preferably, but not necessarily, separated by 120 degrees at the points of
connection with the moving and base platforms. Ball screws or hydraulic
jacks can be used to vary the lengths of the prismatic joints and, therefore,
to control the position of the moving platform.
Let F denote the degrees of freedom of a mechanism, n the number of
links, j the number of joints, Ii the degrees of freedom associated with the
ith joint, and>' = 6 the motion parameter. Then, the mobility equation
can be written as:
F = >'(n - j -1) + L k (1)
no bending moments will transmit to the limbs. That is the force acting on
each limb is directed along the longitudinal axis of the limb and the only
moment acting on each limb is a twisting moment. Hence, these limbs can
be made of hollow cylindrical rods to produce a light weight, high stiffness,
and high speed manipulator.
3. Translational Motion
To facilitate the analysis, two coordinate systems ~ and E are attached to
the fixed base and moving platform, respectively, as shown in Fig. 1. Figure
2 shows the geometry of limb i, where WI denotes the based attached axis
of the lower universal joint, W5 denotes the moving platform attached axis
of the upper universal joint, W2 and W4 denote the axes of the universal
joints that are respectively attached to lower and upper members of the
limb, UI is a unit vector pointing from 0 to Ai, U2 is a unit vector normal
to the plane defined by WI and W2, U4 is a unit vector pointing from Ai to
Bi, U5 is a unit vector normal to the plane defined by W4 and W5, and U6 a
unit vector pointing from Q to Bi. The angles 8li is measured from UI to
U2 about the WI axis, 82i is measured from U2 to U4 about the W2 axis, 8 4i
is measured from U4 to U5 about the W4 axis, and 85i is measured from U5
to U6 about the W6 axis.
Let ~ = (aix, aiy, aiz)T and hi = (b ix , biy , biz)T be the position vectors
of points Ai and Bi in coordinate systems ~ and E, respectively. Also let
405
(6)
406
4. Inverse Kinematics
For the inverse kinematics problem, the position vector p of E with respect
to E is given and the limb lengths di , i = 1,2, and 3, are to be found.
Solving Eq. (6) for di, yields
(7)
Hence, corresponding to a given position of the moving platform, there
are two solutions for each limb length, provided that di falls within the
range of the corresponding limb length. However, the negative limb length
is physically not feasible.
5. Direct Kinematics
For the direct kinematics problem, the limb lengths di, i = 1,2 and 3, are
given and the position vector of the moving platform, p, is to be found.
Expanding Eq. (6), yields
(8)
Equation (8) written three times for i = 1,2, and 3, yields three equa-
tions in the unknown vector p. Each equation represents a sphere of radius
di centered at a point defined by the vector ei = ai - b i . The intersection
of these three spheres yields the solutions to the direct kinematics problem.
For the general case, there are two solutions, since the intersection of two
of the spheres forms a circle which will generally intersect the third sphere
in two locations. Five cases are possible:
(a) Two solutions. The two solutions are realized at the intersection of
three spheres.
(b) One double root. Two of the spheres may be tangent to each other.
Hence, a double root is possible only if the point of contact lies on the
third sphere.
(c) No real solution. The three spheres do not intersect at a common point.
(d) Singular solution. Two of the spheres are concentric. Hence, an infinite
number of solutions is possible only if these two spheres coincide, i.e.
they are of equal radii.
(e) Singular solution. All three spheres are concentric. Hence, an infinite
number of solutions is possible only if the three spheres coincide.
Algebraically, we may eliminate p2 by subtracting Eq. (8) for i = 1
from Eq. (8) for i = 2, and i = 3, respectively. This results in two linear
407
equations:
(9)
(10)
where
k2 = (e~ - e~ - d~ + dD /2 and
k3 = (e~ - e~ - d~ + dD /2.
We note that Eq. (9) represents a plane containing the circle of intersection
between the two spheres defined by limbs 1 and 2. Similarly, Eq. (10) rep-
resents another plane containing the circle of intersection between the two
spheres defined by limbs 1 and 3. These two planes intersect in a straight
line which can be found as follows. Solving Eqs. (9) and (10) for Px and Py
in terms of Pz, we obtain
8x
PX="8' (11)
8y
py= 8' (12)
where
Co =82 ,
C! = -282elz, and
C2 = 8x 2 + 8i - 288xelx - 288yely + 82(e~ - dj).
Equation (13) yields:
(a) Two real roots, provided c~ - 4CQC2 > 0,
(b) One double root, provided c~ - 4CQC2 = 0, and
(c) No real root, provided c~ - 4CQC2 < 0.
Corresponding to each Pz, Eqs. (11) and (12) yield a unique solution
for Px and PY' respectively. We note that the two manipulator postures
obtained from Eq. (13) are always mirror image of each other about the
plane defined by points AI, A 2 , and A 3 .
408
6. Discussions
From Eq. (7), we note that the workspace is bounded by the maximum
extension of the limbs. Let dim be the maximum length of limb i. Then,
(14)
7. Summary
A light weight, high stiffness, and high speed parallel manipulator with
three translational degrees of freedom is introduced. First, the kinematic
structure of the mechanism is described. Second, the sufficient conditions
for the moving platform to possess a pure translational motion are de-
veloped. Third, the inverse and direct kinematics of the manipulator are
investigated. It is shown that the inverse kinematics yields two equal and
opposite limb lengths for each limb, but only one is physically possible. The
direct kinematics problem has been reduced to a second-degree polynomial
in one unknown. Hence, corresponding to each set of limb lengths, there
are generally two possible manipulator postures. Finally, the workspace and
singular conditions of the manipulator are discussed. It is shown that sin-
gular conditions can be avoided by making the size of the moving platform
different from that of the fixed base.
409
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