Forward Kinematics Analysis of the Spindle-Coupled Road Simulator with Modified Newton-Raphson Algorithm

The forward kinematics analysis of the six-degree-of-freedom(DOF) spindle-coupled road simulator (SCRS) with a complex hybrid serial-parallel mechanism(HSPM) has been performed. The forward kinematics with an efficient method is significant for control, singularity and workspace analysis of SCRS. Applying the vector matrix theory, the geometric restriction function was expressed in concise and compact form. A modified Newton-Raphson algorithm which could guarantee the convergence and improve the rapidity was proposed to solve the problem of the forward kinematics. The validity of forward kinematic formulations was verified through Matlab/Simulink and ADAMS. The numerical results show that the established model is accurate and the algorithm is effective which lays a good foundation for both mechanical system optimization and control scheme design of SCRS.