Feasible workspace regions for general two-revolute manipulator

Abstract

In this paper, a topology is presented for feasible workspace regions in general two-revolute manipulators. The design problem and concept of feasible workspace regions have been discussed as linked to each other. Design equations are formulated by arbitrarily prescribing four workspace boundary points. The so-called feasible workspace regions are the intersection of three different sub-regions, which are given by constraint curves as function of the relative positions of three workspace boundary points. By using a parametric study, all topologies for three sub-regions are figured out. Corresponding areas in cross section plane are determined for prescribing the position of a feasible workspace point as function of the topology for sub-regions. A classification has been proposed to determine and to characterize the combination of the topologies for those sub-regions. All topologies for feasible workspace regions are figured out and they are discussed as a design tool. Three general cases are analyzed in details to characterize workspace design capabilities for general two-revolute manipulators.

Key words： workspace; two-revolute manipulators; topology analysis; design

Acknowledgements

The first author likes to acknowledge the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for supporting his PhD study and research at LARM in the University of Cassino, Italy for the period of years 2008-2011.

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