Kinematic Analysis of the 3-RPS Cube Parallel Manipulator

The 3-RPS cube parallel manipulator, a three-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator initially proposed by Huang and Fang (1995, “Motion Characteristics and Rotational Axis Analysis of Three DOF Parallel Robot Mechanisms,” IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. Intelligent Systems for the 21st Century, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Oct. 22–25, pp. 67–71) is analyzed in this paper with an algebraic approach, namely, Study kinematic mapping of the Euclidean group SE(3) and is described by a set of eight constraint equations. A primary decomposition is computed over the set of eight constraint equations and reveals that the manipulator has only one operation mode. Inside this operation mode, it turns out that the direct kinematics of the manipulator with arbitrary values of design parameters and joint variables, has 16 solutions in the complex space. A geometric interpretation of the real solutions is given. The singularity conditions are obtained by deriving the determinant of the Jacobian matrix of the eight constraint equations. All the singular poses are mapped onto the joint space and are geometrically interpreted. By parametrizing the set of constraint equations under the singularity conditions, it is shown that the manipulator is in actuation singularity. The uncontrolled motion gained by the moving platform is also provided. The motion of the moving platform is essentially determined by the fact that three vertices in the moving platform move in three mutually orthogonal planes. The workspace of each point of the moving platform (with exception of the three vertices) is bounded by a Steiner surface. This type of motion has been studied by Darboux in 1897. Moreover, the 3DOF motion of the 3-RPS cube parallel manipulator contains a special one-degree-of-freedom motion, called the vertical Darboux motion (VDM). In this motion, the moving platform can rotate and translate about and along the same axis simultaneously. The surface generated by a line in the moving platform turns out to be a right-conoid surface.