Architecture Design and Optimization of an On-the-Fly Reconfigurable Parallel Robot

Abstract

A novel method for the architecture design of a reconfigurable parallel robot is presented based on common actuation devices. System design techniques are used to classify parallel robot modules and enumeration rules are established to determine the feasible robot architectures. Branch kinematics are developed and a workspace analysis is performed. An optimal design is selected from the remaining discrete robot configurations. The final design is a self-reconfigurable parallel robot that has the ability to perform on-the-fly reconfiguration. The proposed reconfigurable parallel robot not only provides innovation in reconfigurable system design but also stimulates new research into parallel robot kinematics.