Analysis and Design of a Novel 4-DOF High-Speed Parallel Robot

Abstract

Delta parallel robots are now widely used for high-speed applications. However, typical Delta robots, such as ABB Flexpicker suffer from rotating axis with passive prismatic joint subjected to critical speed and so requiring careful maintenance. In this paper, a novel 4-DOF high-speed parallel robot with four legs is presented, which consists of three legs with 90 degree arrangement for translational motions and one remaining leg with rack & pinion gears for rotational motion. The inverse kinematics, velocity, acceleration, statics, and inverse dynamics have been analyzed. From the workspace analysis and inverse dynamics simulation for 0.43 sec cycle time, the 4-axis parallel robot prototype with 12kg payload has been designed. In the future research, computed torque control methods will be developed for the prototype.