Singularity analysis of a 7-DOF spatial hybrid manipulator for medical surgery

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the singularity analysis of a 7-degrees of freedom (DOF) hybrid manipulator consisting of a closed-loop within it. From the past studies, it is well-known that the kinematic singularities play a significant role in the design and control of robotic manipulators. Kinematic singularities pose two-fold effects – first, they can induce the loss of one or more DOF of the manipulator and cause infinite joint rates at that particular joint, and second, they help to determine the trajectory or zone with high mechanical advantage. In current work, a 7-DOF hybrid manipulator is considered which is being developed at Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research–Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIR–CSIO) Chandigarh to assist a surgeon during a medical-surgical task. To emulate the natural motion of a surgeon, the challenging configuration with redundant DOF is utilized. Jacobian has been computed analytically and analyzed at each instantaneous configuration with the evaluation of manipulability. Effect of a closed loop in the hybrid configurations is focused at, and utilizing the contour plots, good and worst working zones are identified in the workspace of the manipulator. The verification and validation of best and worst manipulability points (singularities) are done with the help of genetic algorithms, to determine locally and globally optimal configurations. Finally, on the basis of the singularity analysis, the present work concludes with few guidelines to the surgeon about the best and worst working zones for surgical tasks.