A six-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator with three planarly actuated links

Abstract

The experimental model described exhibits the simple parallel robot design due to very few moving parts. The simple structure does not diminish its performances. On the contrary, it increases considerably its work volume, simplifies the kinematic solution and makes the robot very simple to construct. The robot has been tested in two applications: high-precision grinding of micro-pipette and manipulation of surgical tool in laparoscopic operations. We believe that this type of parallel robot is very attractive for several industrial (e.g. assembly) applications as well as and non-industrial (e.g. medical) applications due to its unique combination of large work volume with high accuracy.