Classification of 6-SPS Parallel Manipulators According to Their Components
Abstract The complexity of the forward displacement analysis (FDA) of 6-SPS parallel manipulators1 varies to a great extent with the change of their geometric parameters. This paper presents a classification of the 6-SPS parallel manipulators according to their components. At first, we give the components for the 6-SPS parallel manipulator. A component refers to a part of the 6-SPS kinematic chain in which the number of actuators is equivalent to the degree of freedom. In addition to the commonly used rigid bodies, points and (straight) lines are also taken as elements of the components. Type synthesis of the 6-SPS parallel manipulators is then performed. The influence of the types of components on the maximal numbers of configurations and the degrees of the characteristic polynomials of the 6-SPS parallel manipulators is then revealed. The number of redundant sensors needed to reduce the FDA of 6-SPS parallel manipulators to the solution of several univariate quadratic equations in sequence based on the component method is also presented.