An Articulated Robotic Forceps Design with a Parallel Wrist-Gripper Mechanism and Parasitic Motion Compensation

In this paper, a novel 4 degrees-of-freedom articulated parallel forceps mechanism with a large orientation workspace (±/−90deg in pitch and yaw, 360deg in roll rotations) is presented for robotic minimally invasive surgery. The proposed 3RSR-1UUP parallel mechanism utilizes a UUP center-leg which can convert thrust motion of the 3RSR mechanism into gripping motion. This design eliminates the need for an additional gripper actuator, but also introduces the problem of unintentional gripper opening/closing due to parasitic motion of the 3RSR mechanism. Here, position kinematics of the proposed mechanism, including the workspace, is analyzed in detail, and a solution to the parasitic motion problem is provided. Human in the loop simulations with a haptic interface are also performed to confirm the feasibility of the proposed design.

Accurate Parameter Estimation for Master–Slave Operation of a Surgical Robot

In this paper, a parameter estimation method is proposed to predict the simultaneous joint dynamics of a surgical robotic arm that is tracking trajectories. It mainly deals with the design, modeling, prototyping and control of a serial robotic arm for robot-assisted urological surgery. This robot is composed of many joints mounted in series with the surgical tool end performing both a translational workspace and a cone-shaped orientation workspace. The joints dynamics is obtained by trajectory planning of the tool end in the virtual prototype modeling environment. The motor drive system is parameterized for design, and its comprehensive performance in motion is predicted accurately. The heterogeneous master–slave control system was built, and the performances of the master–slave prototype were experimentally evaluated by measuring the positioning error of the virtual fixed point and the surgical tool end along the planned trajectory.

Study of the effects of link tolerances to estimate mechanical errors in 3-RRS parallel manipulator

This paper presents the mechanical error estimation under the effects of link tolerances in a 3-degree-of-freedom (DoF) 3-RRS Spatial Parallel Manipulator (SPM). Position level kinematic analysis and workspace analysis in the form of reachable and orientation workspace are carried out initially. Then, the effect of link tolerances on individual link is studied at the position of mid-point and orientation of the movable platform. The corresponding mechanical errors are estimated. The effect of link tolerance variation is studied to know the pattern of mechanical error. The 3-D CAD model in SolidWorks is used to validate the results. The conclusions are drawn that lead to error minimization at the tolerance design stage.

Kinematic Analysis and Optimal Design of a Novel Schönflies-Motion Parallel Manipulator with Rotational Pitch Motion for Assembly Operations

This paper presents a novel Schönflies-motion Parallel Manipulator with Rotational Pitch motion (SPM-RP) based on a single-platform fully-parallel mechanism. The analysis of position, workspace, velocity, and singularity of the SPM-RP is carried out in detail, and a dimensionless Jacobian is proposed to evaluate the manipulability of the SPM-RP. It is shown that the SPM-RP is kinematically position-decoupled, which possesses a large singularity-free workspace and excellent manipulability. The SPM-RP is actuated by four parallel prismatic actuators, enabling the manipulator to provide identical kinematic performance at all generic cross-sections perpendicular to the prismatic joint axes within its workspace. This paper thus proposes a reduced design optimization formulation, where the traditional optimization over the entire workspace is reduced to one on a representative workspace cross-section of the SPM-RP. The design optimization of the SPM-RP has been carried out by maximizing its manipulability over the total orientation workspace, which is crucial for precision assembly. A SPM-RP prototype has been developed based on the achieved optimal design. The mobility, orientation capability, total orientation workspace, and repeatability are tested and verified for the developed SPM-RP prototype. Experiments show that the SPM-RP achieves a large total orientation workspace with excellent precision performance.

A Cable-Driven Parallel Robot with Full-Circle End-Effector Rotations

Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CDPRs) offer high payload capacities, large translational workspace and high dynamic performances. The rigid base frame of the CDPR is connected in parallel to the moving platform using cables. However, their orientation workspace is usually limited due to cable/cable and cable/moving platform collisions. This paper deals with the design, modelling and prototyping of a hybrid robot. This robot, which is composed of a CDPR mounted in series with a Parallel Spherical Wrist (PSW), has both a large translational workspace and an unlimited orientation workspace. It should be noted that the six degrees of freedom (DOF) motions of the moving platform of the CDPR, namely, the base of the PSW, and the three-DOF motion of the PSW are actuated by means of eight actuators fixed to the base. As a consequence, the overall system is underactuated and its total mass and inertia in motion is reduced.

Optimal wrench-closure configuration of spatial reconfigurable cable-driven parallel robots

In this paper, a method for computing the optimal actuation of reconfigurable cable-driven parallel robots is presented. By using this method, the imperfect ability in exerting torque and limited orientation workspace of these robots may be improved. In a cable-driven parallel robot with reconfigurability, the attachment points of cables on the base are adjusted with regard to the movement of the end-effector on a trajectory. In such a design the redundant degree-of-freedom of the robot is increased accordingly. For an arbitrary pose of the end-effector, a spherical zone is defined in which the called wrench-closure condition is satisfied for a prescribed range of orientation. Taking the volume of such zone into consideration the optimal configuration of the robot may be determined. This configuration is found by appropriately changing the position of the moving attachment points on the base of the robot. By repeating this computation for a number of points on a specified trajectory, appropriate actuation plans are achieved. The computed optimal actuation guarantees balance of any external wrench by tension force of cables when the end-effector moves close to its trajectory. For a case of spatial reconfigurable cable-driven parallel robot, the optimal actuation is found based on Particle Swarm Optimization and performance of the robot is compared to the one with fixed cable attachment points on base. The result shows significant improvement of the performance of reconfigurable spatial cable-driven parallel robot.