THE STEWART PLATFORM IS A SIX DEGREE OF FREEDOM PARALLEL LINKAGE WHICH IS UNDERGOING APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AS A MANUFACTURING MANIPULATOR. BECAUSE OF ITS CLOSED KINEMATIC STRUCTURE, THIS MANIPULATOR IS CAPABLE OF FORCE-TO-WEIGHT RATIOS THAT ARE AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE GREATER THAN CONVENTIONAL SERIAL LINK ROBOTS. ITS STIFFNESS IS ALSO FAR GREATER. THE STEWART PLATFORM MANIPULATOR APPEARS TO BE MECHANICALLY SIMPLE BUT ITS KINEMATICS ARE DIFFICULT TO SOLVE IN REAL TIME. FURTHERMORE, THE MANIPULATOR HAS SINGULARITY POINTS AT WHICH IT GAINS A DEGREE OF FREEDOM AND BECOMES UNCONTROLLABLE. NEW KINEMATICS AND DYNAMICS SOLUTIONS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED WHICH MAKE PRACTICAL CONTROL POSSIBLE. ASSEMBLY, LIGHT MACHINING, AND PART FORMING APPLICATIONS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED. A DC SERVO CONTROLLED STEWART PLATFORM HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED AND A MODULAR REAL TIME CONTROLLER UNDER DEVELOPMENT WILL BE USED TO T
| Number of Pages : | 7 |
| Published : | 06/01/1992 |
