Jun 2012, Volume 7 Issue 2
    

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  • EDITORIAL
    I-Ming CHEN, Feng GAO
  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Qilong YUAN, I-Ming CHEN

    This paper introduces a method to generate the planar jumping motion for biped robot. In this work, through determining the upper body posture trajectory in the flight phase, the foot landing posture is made to be flat while landing. Together with properly designing the trajectory for local center of gravity and the foot landing velocity, the soft landing trajectory is generated. A controller on the ankle joint is added to avoid significant impact with the ground and stabilize the robot after landing. Jumping motion with stable landing is achieved in a dynamic simulation environment based on this method.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Baochen WEI, Feng GAO

    Working capacity refers to the velocity output and force output of a manipulator. It is usually be represented by output capacity space. In this paper, the method of Linear Programming and a geometric method are proposed to calculate working capacity spaces in different situations. With the consideration of gravity effect of every component, the output force capacity space of heavy duty manipulators is calculated. The results show that the effect of the gravity is a translation of the capacity space. This paper gives a method for the output capacity express especially for heavy duty manipulators. The output capacity space can be helpful to the driving parameters selection. With the consideration of the gravity effect of every component and the friction at the joints, the excavating force capacity space of the heavy-load excavating mechanism is calculated and is represented as a multi-dimensional polytope. The results show that the effect of the gravity and friction is to translational act on the capacity space.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Jens KOTLARSKI, Bodo HEIMANN, Tobias ORTMAIER

    In this paper the effect of kinematic redundancy in order to reduce the singularity loci of the direct kinematics and to increase the operational, i.e., singularity-free, workspace is demonstrated. The proposed approach consists of additional prismatic actuators allowing one or more base joints to move linearly. As a result, a selective reconfiguration can be performed in order to avoid singular configurations. Exemplarily, kinematically redundant schemes of four structures, the 3RRR, the 3RPR, the 6UPS, and the 6RUS, are considered. The relationship between the redundancy and the operational workspace is studied and several analysis examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed concept. Furthermore, the additional benefit of an increasing number of redundant actuators is discussed.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    T. ESSOMBA, M. A. LARIBI, J. P. GAZEAU, S. ZEGHLOUL, G. POISSON

    This paper introduces the design of a master-slave robotized system for tele-ultrasound application. The objective of these researches is to design the slave manipulator of this system and its control device (master part). The specification process of the architecture kinematic is based on the analysis of expert’s gesture during ultrasound examinations. These studies have been carried out using a motion capture system. The medical gestures were analyzed in terms of ultrasound probe attitude and used in the definition of the kinematics specifications of the proposed manipulator. The Spherical Parallel Mechanism is selected because its characteristics meet the constraint requirements. The optimal synthesis of spherical parallel manipulators is performed using a real-coded Genetic Algorithm based method. Simulations on the actuator responses of the structure allowed us the validate it. In order to control this robot, we have also designed a haptic device that provides easiness to use as well as force feedback. Its orientation control strategy is based on a use of an adaptative kalman filter which efficiency was demonstrated during experimentations.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Abdelbadia CHAKER, Abdelfattah MLIKA, Med Amine LARIBI, Lotfi ROMDHANE, Sa?d ZEGHLOUL

    This paper deals with the design and the analysis of a spherical parallel manipulator (SPM) for a haptic minimally invasive surgery application. First the medical task was characterized with the help of a surgeon who performed a suture technique called anastomosis. A Vicon system was used to capture the motion of the surgeon, which yielded the volume swept by the tool during the anastomosis operation. The identified workspace can be represented by a cone with a half vertex angle of 26°. A multi objective optimization procedure based on genetic algorithms was then carried out to find the optimal SPM. Two criteria were considered, i.e., task workspace and mechanism dexterity. The optimized SPM was then analyzed to determine the error on the orientation of the end effector as a function of the manufacturing errors of the different links of the mechanism.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Po-Chih LEE, Jyh-Jone LEE

    This paper presents the analysis of three parallel manipulators with Schoenflies-motion. Each parallel manipulator possesses two limbs in structure and the end-effector has three DOFs (degree of freedom) in the translational motion and one DOF in rotational motion about a given direction axis with respect to the world coordinate system. The three isoconstrained parallel manipulators have the structures denoted as CuuUwHw-//-CvvUwHw, CuRuuUhw-//-CvRvvUhw and CuPuUhw-//- CvPvUhw. The kinematic equations are first introduced for each manipulator. Then, Jacobian matrix, singularity, workspace, and performance index for each mechanism are subsequently derived and analysed for the first time. The results can be helpful for the engineers to evaluate such kind of parallel robots for possible application in industry where pick-and-place motion is required.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Xinjun LIU, Xiang CHEN, Zhidong LI

    Due to the demand of reconfigurable system in parallel kinematic machines (PKMs), modular design technology is significant and necessary. However, in earlier research, the core joint modules have been concerned about rather than the customized link modules. The modular design to the typical customized links from the point of seeking optimal structures with best mechanical performances is analyzed and processed in two steps: classification and optimization. Firstly, a brief introduction to the current research status and the aims of this paper are outlined. And then, how the typical customized links classified is proposed. Next, the technology method and the iterative formula derivation process of topology optimization are described in detail. Finally, calculation models for each group of classified ones are set up and their optimal structures are achieved through topology optimization technique. The results provide useful references for reconfigurable and modular design in engineering cases.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Kejia LI, Xilun DING, Marco CECCARELL

    This article focuses on the dynamic index and performance of a radial symmetric six-legged robot. At first the structure of the robot is described in brief and its inverse kinematics is presented. Then the dynamic model is formulated as based on the Lagrange equations. A novel index of total torque is proposed by considering the posture of the supporting legs. The new index can be used to optimize the leg’s structure and operation for consuming minimum power and avoiding unstable postures of the robot. A characterization of the proposed six-legged robot is obtained by a parametric analysis of robot performance through simulation using the presented dynamic model. Main influences are outlined as well as the usefulness of the proposed performance index.