Workspace and singularity analysis of a 3-DOF planar parallel manipulator with actuation redundancy

Abstract

SUMMARYThis paper deals with the position workspace, orientation workspace, and singularity of a 3-degree-of-freedom (DOF) planar parallel manipulator with actuation redundancy, which is created by introducing a redundant link with active actuator to a 3-DOF nonredundant parallel manipulator. Based on the kinematic analysis, the position workspace and orientation workspace of the redundantly actuated parallel manipulator and its corresponding nonredundant parallel manipulator are analyzed, respectively. In the singularity analysis phase, the relationship between the generalized input velocity and the generalized output velocity is researched on the basis of the theory of singular value decomposition. Then a method to investigate the singularity of parallel manipulators is presented, which is used to determine the singularity of the redundantly actuated parallel manipulator. In contrast to the corresponding nonredundant parallel manipulator, the redundant one has larger orientation workspace and less singular configurations. The redundantly actuated parallel manipulator is incorporated into a 4-DOF hybrid machine tool which also includes a feed worktable to demonstrate its applicability.