Abstract
A serial-parallel robot has the high stiffness and accuracy of a parallel robot, and a large workspace and compact structure of a serial robot. In this paper, the resolved force control algorithm is derived for serial-parallel robots, including a 3-articulated-arm platform robot, a linkage robot, and two cooperating serial robots. A S matrix is derived to relate joint torque to the external load. Using the principle of virtual work, S is used in resolved rate control algorithm to relate the tool velocity to joint rate. S can be easily expanded to the control of redundant actuation, and it can be used to interpret singularity. MATLAB is used to verify these control algorithms with graphical motion animation.