Rheinisch-Westfällische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 52062 Aachen, Germany
1
Robotics Innovation Center, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH), 28359 Bremen, Germany
2
Dynamics Division, Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Göteborg, Sweden
3
Parallel Continuum Robots (PCR) are closed-loop mechanisms but use elastic kinematic links connected in parallel between the end-effector (EE) and the base platform. PCRs are actuated primarily through large deflections of the interconnected elastic links unlike by rigid joints in rigid parallel mechanisms. In this paper, Cosserat rod theory-based forward and inverse kinetostatic models of a 6-RUS PCR are proposed. A set of simulations is performed to analyze the proposed PCR structure, including workspace analysis, maneuverability in three-dimensional space through trajectory following, assessment of inverse kinetostatic solutions for both the xy planar rotation, and evaluation of the force response at the EE platform along the z-axis.
The work presented in this paper is supported by the PACOMA project (Grant No. ESA-TECMSM-SOW-022836) subcontracted to us by Airbus Defence & Space GmbH (Grant No. D.4283.01.02.01) with funds from the European Space Agency. The authors also want to acknowledge John Till's github tutorials on PCR and his guidance on deriving the boundary condition equations for the proposed PCR.