A New Design of a 6-DOF Parallel Robot

Abstract

This paper presents a six-degree-of-freedom parallel robot which has been recently designed. The design is based on a three-degree-of-freedom parallel robot called DELTA which was designed in Switzerland by EPFL. First, we give equations corresponding to different models of the DELTA robot: forward and inverse kinematics as well as inverse dynamics. An important feature of our method in deriving these models is to use a “good” set of parameters in order to simplify the equations. Then, in an attempt to extend the principle of the DELTA robot mechanical structure to a six-degree-offreedom parallel robot, we propose a new design called HEXA. Equations for kinematics and dynamics of the HEXA robot are presented and show that it has the same dynamic capabilities as the DELTA robot because, like the DELTA robot, it can be built with light-weight materials and easily modeled. Finally, we discuss optimization of the HEXA robot mechanical structure.