The effects of design parameters on the mechanical precision of an end effector on a parallel kinematic robot

In this paper, important design parameters for parallel kinematic robots are defined, paying special attention to machining errors which may cause kinematic errors at the end effector of a robot. The kinematic effects caused by each design parameter, as well as their upper/lower limits, are analyzed here. To do so, we have developed a novel software program to compute kinematic errors by considering its defined design parameters. With this program, roboticists designing parallel kinematic robots can understand the important design parameters for which upper/lower allowances have to be strictly controlled in the design process. This tactic can be used for the design of high-speed, parallel kinematic robots to reduce the design/manufacturing costs and increase kinematic precision. © ICROS 2016.