A Review of Research Aspects of Redundantly Actuated Parallel Robotsw for Enabling Further Applications

Abstract

The intrinsic advantages of parallel robots, such as higher stiffness, accuracy, and speed, make them appealing to both industry and academia. However, some inevitable drawbacks arising from their parallel structure such as limited workspace, singular configurations, and low dexterity, challenge their applications. Redundantly actuated parallel robots (RAPRs) have been proposed as a means to improve the aforementioned disadvantages. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the published literature on RAPRs, since this field emerged over three decades ago, to lay a foundation for next investigations and enhancing the state of the art. The relevant published works are studied and classified into four primary topics, including design, kinematics, dynamics, and control issues of RAPRs. Common structures of RAPRs are introduced and studied. The literature is also studied in terms of RAPRs applications, wherein the limited practical applications are pointed out. The current challenges and future directions of the field are discussed with the research gap identified. New applications for RAPRs are proposed.