A Systematic Comparison of Parallel Kinematics

Abstract

Parallel kinematics have become one of the most interesting research areas in production engineering in the last years. New systems with a different kinematics structure as conventional robots or machine tools have been designed. The axes — rotary or linear driven — are connected in a parallel way, which offers new system characteristics like improved stiffness caused by the parallel strut arrangement or higher dynamics due to the lower masses to be moved. But these structures are not really new. In the robotics they are well known for special applications and the Hexapod-structure is also used in simulators for a long time. However the investigation in parallel kinematics has become a new stimulating impact for the machine tool as well as the robotics sector in the last years.