The Effects of Design Parameters on the Workspace of a Turin Parallel Robot

Abstract

In this paper an investigation is carried out to determine topologi cal and design characteristics of the workspace of a Turin parallel robot named TuPaMan. We propose a procedure for the dimensional design of the device components. We mainly emphasize the motion capability of parallel robots, whose mechanical design may be scaled with respect to existing prototypes, by means of a characterization of the TuPaMan workspace. Additionally, orientation capability of the robot is evaluated through determining the workspace for a given orientation of the movable plate. The numerical results of the effects of the design parameters and the robot's workspace constraints are provided as three-dimensional plots and cross-sections of the most interesting workspaces. Finally, a parametric analysis is carried out as a function of the device size, using the overall dimensions and the area of the middle cross-section of the workspace as synthetic performance indices.