Mobility Analysis and Inverse Kinematics of a Novel 2R1T Parallel Manipulator

Abstract

This paper presents a novel parallel robot constructed with a three-limb CUP architecture. The mobility of the mechanism is obtained using screw theory, showing that the platform has three degrees of freedom, namely: (i) translation along the Z axis; and (ii) two rotations. The position analysis investigates the loop-closure equation resulting in a unique solution for the inverse kinematics problem and the identification of parasitic motions of the platform. The paper validates the analytical solution with a numerical example, where the results are compared with motion simulations of the manipulator using a commercially available software package.