Development of a novel two-limbed parallel mechanism having Schönflies motion

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel parallel mechanism having Schönflies motion. The mechanism consists of only two RRPaR-type limbs. After a short description of its structure, its position analysis is conducted and its screw-based kinematic model is derived. Next, its singularity analysis is performed via Grassmann line geometry and then its optimal kinematic characteristics are examined with respect to workspace size and isotropy property. The results show that the proposed parallel mechanism has a very high potential to be used as a manipulator or a haptic device. A prototype of this mechanism was developed and tested to corroborate its performance.