Forward displacement analysis of a general 6-3 Stewart platform using conformal geometric algebra

Abstract

In this paper, a new algorithm for the forward displacement analysis of a general 6-3 Stewart platform (6-3SPS) based on conformal geometric algebra (CGA) is presented. First, a 6-3SPS structure is changed into an equivalent 2RPS-2SPS structure. Then, two kinematic constraint equations are established based on the geometric characteristics, one of which is built according to the point characteristic four-ball intersection in CGA. A 16th-degree univariate polynomial equation is derived from the aforementioned two equations by the Sylvester resultant elimination. Finally, a numerical example is given to verify the algorithm.