Topological Characteristics of Planar Linkage Including Platform Type Robots

Abstract

In order to select the best possible chain or mechanism at the conceptual stage of design, the designer should be able to read the characteristics of the kinematic chains based on their topology. To accomplish this it is only necessary to associate logically certain characteristics of a chain to perform a task, with the structure and then generalize. Based on this belief in the present work chains are modeled as a system of springs connected in series to reveal some of the characteristics like stiffness and compactness. The concepts developed are applied to platform type robots, which are gaining in importance.