Kinematic modeling and analysis of a parallel-series hybrid manipulator

Traditional industrial manipulators possess fixed configuration and are widely used in manufacturing application in which the manipulator base is fixed. However, some applications exist which would require the robotic manipulators to function in non-stationary environment especially in space. In this thesis, a six degree of freedom parallel-series hybrid manipulator is described. It consists of a 3 d.o.f. in-series manipulator mounted on a 3 d.o.f. in-parallel manipulator. A compatibility equation is found to govern the relationship between in-series component angular velocity and linear velocity; a constraint equation is added to the Jacobian of in-parallel component. Using these two equations, a decomposition strategy is proposed for solving the inverse velocity problem of the hybrid manipulator together with the simulation examples of inverse position tracking and straight line trajectory planning. Effectiveness of this method and factors affecting the simulation result are examined.