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Delta robot forward kinematics method with one root

Conference Paper · August 2017

DOI: 10.1109/ICRAS.2017.8071913

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Institute of mechanics and mechanical engineering, Almaty, Kazakhstan Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
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 Delta robot forward kinematics method with one root
Igor Gritsenko
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
bkopnq@yandex.kz
Azizbek Abduraimov
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
zizo_waterpolo@mail.ru
Abay Bekbaganbetov
Kazakh-British Technical University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
abay_b@bk.ru
Abstract - In this work we investigate forward kinematics of
Clavel’s parallel Delta robot. Authors introduce novel
alternative algorithm for delta robot forward kinematics
solution, which has only one root. We introduce numerical
verification with closed loop kinematics computation: inverse
kinematics – forward kinematics. Additionally authors
introduce their own implementation of inverse kinematics for
delta robot. Numerical implementation of proposed forward
kinematics algorithm showed computation time of 150
microseconds per iteration and computational error of 10-19,
that is could be considered as a microprocessor computation
error.
Keywords: delta, parallel robot, kinematics.
Introduction
The modern industry is largely automated and use of
robotic systems is grows. Robot manipulation mechanisms
are involved in number of technological operations and
traditional sequential structure manipulators are used.
Parallel robot mechanisms are known to be extremely robust
for number of cases. In this work kinematics of a
manipulator with parallel structure - the Delta robot, is
considered. The delta robot is a parallel robot, which means
that there is more than one kinematic chain from the base to
the robot actuator. The key feature of Clavel’s Delta
manipulator is the use of parallelograms in the construction
of the manipulator, which allows to preserve the spatial
orientation of the robot actuator.
A distinctive feature of the delta robot is that its structure
allows 3 drives to manipulate position of the actuator.
Construction of robot links makes the actuator coordinate
system always parallel to the base coordinate system ([1]).
Askar Seidakhmet
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
seydakhmet@mail.ru
Pavel Gritsenko
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Almaty, Kazakhstan
lickro@mail.ru
The conventional approach: search for the intersection
point of three spheres has two alternative roots and requires a
procedure for selecting one of them. The solution proposed
in this work has a single root and allows to solve forward
kinematics with low computational costs.
In this paper, we use the mechanism parameters shown in
Figure 1.
Lbr
Lb
Le
Ler
Figure 1. Delta robot mechanism parameters.
Vector from the center of the base to the center of the
rotor of the drive – Lbr, length of the lever arm fixed to the
drive shaft – Lb, length of the passive shoulder – Le, vector
from the attachment point of the passive shoulder to the grip
– Ler. The design of the robot delta is such that the vectors
Ler and Lbr are always parallel, which greatly simplifies the
robot model, allowing to move the origin of Lb along the
vector Ler to the center of the base and the end of Le along
the vector Ler to the center of actuator plate. Thus the
gripper is described by three coordinates and its coordinate
system is always parallel to base coordinate system.
The classic method to solve the forward kinematics
problem is to find the points of intersection for 3 spheres and
it is discussed in the works [2-5].
(x-xm1)2+(y-ym1)2 +(z-zm1)2 = Re2 ,
(x-xm2)2+(y-ym2)2 +(z-zm2)2 = Re2,
(x-xm3)2+(y-ym3)2 +(z-zm3)2 = Re2
Figure 2. Geometrical image of crossing method in three
areas - the solution has 2-points
Description of the calculating method of forward
kinematics
Method proposed in this work treats the problem from
another point of view: we consider a sphere centered at the
center of the actuator (S) and a radius of Le respectively to
ends of levers Lb (P1, P2, P3) always lie on that spheres
surface. In addition, these points describe a plane that
crosses the sphere forming a circle. That is: knowing the
center of the circle, the radius and the normal - the position
of S in space could be found. That is: we want to find the
center of the sphere, knowing its three points and direction
to it (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. The geometric meaning of the above method -
the section of the sphere circle
The proposed method is implemented with algorithm
that consists of the following steps:
Step 1. Using coordinates of three points, we obtain an
equation normal of the plane formed by these points using
the normalized cross product:
N=norm[ (P1-P2)X(P1-P3) ] (2)
The condition for an unambiguous determination of the
position S - sign of normal does not change until the vector
(1) (P1-P2) is on one side of the vector (P1-P3). There is none
delta robot design that makes physically possible vectors to
change direction relative to each other.
Step 2. Determine the point of the circle center around
the triangle P1, P2, P3, using the coordinates of the points
(P1, P2, P3) and the barycentric parameters (p1, p2, p3 - the
lengths of the sides of the triangle)

 p12 p 2 2  p32  p12 P1  
 


 p 2 2 p32  p12  p 2 2 P 2  
 
 
  p32 p12  p 2 2  p32 P3 
  (3)
U

 p12 p 2 2  p32  p12  
 


 p 2 2 p32  p12  p 2 2  
 

  p32 p12  p 2 2  p32 
  
U - the coordinates of the circle center.
Step 3. We determine the distance from the circle center
to the center of the sphere.
Radius of the circle:
r = |U-P1| (4)
The distance from the circle center to the center of the
sphere with radius R:
d  R2  r 2 (5)
Step 4. From the point of the center of the circle U raise
vector of length d along the normal N.
S = U + N·d (6)
Point S is the desired point - delta robot’s actuator center
and forward kinematics solution of delta robot. It should be
noted that if the changing sequence of vectors at the first
step result, that the point S will be at the center of the sphere
on the other side of the circle. It should be noted that this
solution does not depend from the type of the points
(P1,P2,P3) motion - they can move along a circle or along a
linear trajectory or a complex trajectory, in any case the
method will work if the solution exists.
 Verification of the calculation method for forward the rotor as in the figure below. We obtain the coordinates
kinematics of the point S in terms of the coordinate frame m1:
To confirm the accuracy and to debug of the proposed
calculation algorithm, the looping method was used: S1 = T1-1S (7)
1. Angles of actuators A1 A2 A3 are formed; where T1-1 - Inversion of the homogeneous matrix of the
2. Forward kinematics is calculated, which gives the transition from the base to the coordinate system M1. We
coordinate of the actuator center S; assume the center of coordinate system is at the center of the
3. An inverse kinematics is calculated from the robot base.
coordinate S which returns the angles of the drives
A1 'A2' A3 ';
4. The error E1 = A1'-A1 is calculated;
The conditions of computer simulation: range of angle
[0-90] degrees step 3 degrees only, 30 ^ 3 calculations
(270 000).
Computer simulations demontarated a deviation of E1
below 10 ^ -19 degrees - which is probably related to the
resolving power of the processor, and not the error of the
calculation method. The error rate does not change even at
the boundary points.
The following figure 4 shows a view of a particular
workspace delta manipulator constructed in the robotics
laboratory at the Al-Farabi KazNU. The working area is
obtained by calculating points of the described forward
kinematics method.
Figure 5. Coordinate system of Delta robot

Note that the lever Lb moves in the plane YZ and the

length Lb in the projection on the plane YZ will always be
the same, the displacement of S1’s X coordinate occurs only
due to Le X displacement, then the length of the projection
Le on the plane YZ would be: |Le’| = sqrt(|Le|2-X2); line
length from the start coordinates M1 to S1 '(S1 projection
on the plane YZ) is simply: S1’|=sqrt(Y2+Z2).
Thus, we obtain a triangle in the plane P

Figure 4. Working area Delta robot

The method for inverse kinematics calculations was

standard - but the implementation method was an author's
development and is intuitively understandable.
In case of inverse kinematics, position of the actuator
point S is known and angles of the drives are needed to be
found. In this case, the drives angles can be calculated
independently.
Consider a solution for one drive - A1. The structure of
the robot is such that the lever Lb moves along a circle on a Figure 6. Geometric meaning of the calculating method
plane and we arrange the coordinate system to the center of of delta robot’s inverse kinematic

Drive angle θ could be estimated as follows: θ=φ-σ; For
delta robot design the values ranges are next: θϵ[0
90];φϵ(15 165);σϵ(15 165); estimate φ using S1' and σ by
the cosine theorem; φ=Ctg-1(y/z); we specifically use
arccotangent, because the range of its values (0-180);
developed. The calculation of direct kinematics to build a
working area of the robot of 30 ^ 3 points was last for 3.939
sec, or 146 microseconds per calculation. In the future work,
the authors are going to use the obtained results to
investigate the calculations of the dynamics and
construction of regulators of the delta robot, investigate the

  arccos 
 
 Lb2  S1 2  Le2 
 , the arc cosine has a range
forms of working areas for various topologies of delta
manipulators.
 2  Lb  S1 
 
(0-180).
To calculate angles 2 and 3, only the first step need to
changed - and get S2, S3, respectively.
Conclusion
A new method for solving the forward kinematics
problem is obtained, the method is realized and verified by
means of both an analytical substantiation and a numerical
experiment. It should be noted that if you change the
sequence of vectors in the first step, then the point will be at
the center of the sphere on the other side of the circle. This
solution does not depend on the motion type of points - they
can move along a circle or along a linear trajectory or a
complex trajectory, in any case the method will work if the
solution exists. An implementation of inverse kinematics for
a robot with high numerical efficiency and accuracy is
REFERENCES
[1] Clavel, R. (1988), Delta: a Fast Robot with Parallel Geometry,
Proceedings of the 18th Int. Symposium on Industrial Robot,
Lausanne.
[2] Tremblay, A., Baron, L. (1999), Geometrical Synthesis of
Parallel Manipulators of Star-Like Topology with a Genetic
Algorithm, IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation,
Detroit, Michigan.
[3] Zsombor-Murray, P.J. (2001), Kinematic Analysis of Clavel’s
“Delta” Robot, CCToMM Symposium on Mechanisms,
Machines and Mechatronics, Saint-Hubert (Montréal).
[4] André Olsson, Modeling and control of a Delta-3 robot, master
thesis, Department of Automatic Control, Lund University,
2009.
[5] Manuel Napoleon Cardona Gutierrez, “Kinematics Analysis of
a Delta Parallel Robot”, IEEE, University of Sonsonate,
Salvador,2010.

AUTHORS’ BACKGROUND

Your Name Title* Research Field Personal website

Askar Seidakhmet Automation research Dynamics of machines, No available
of a dynamic state of mechanisms and robots
electromechanical drives
of machines with gear
mechanisms
Igor Gritsenko Development and Robotics, mathematical and No available
management of high- algorithmic solutions for robotics,
speed manipulator traffic planning and robot control,
navigation.
Azizbek Abduraimov Automatic derivation Study of the dynamics of the No available
of differential equations mobile robot, robotics, traffic
and imitation movement planning and robot control
of mechanical systems
Pavel Gritsenko The development of a Robotics, computer vision, traffic No available
navigation and motion planning and robot control,
planning system based on navigation.
a vision system
Abay Bekbaganbetov Dynamics of the Robotics, computer vision No available
bipedal walking robot

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