Transferability in an 8-DoF Parallel Robot with a Configurable Platform

Parallel robots with configurable platforms (PRCPs) combine the benefits of parallel robots with additional functionalities such as grasping and cutting. However, some of the theoretical tools used to study classical parallel robots do not apply to parallel robots with configurable platforms. This paper uses screw theory to study the transferable wrenches from the robot's limbs to the configurable platform of an 8-DoF parallel robot. Deriving the transferable wrenches allows one to construct the screw system that is applied to each part of the configurable platform. Based on the analytical expressions of the limb and platform wrenches that have been derived and numerically validated, the mathematical tools that are used to study parallel kinematic structures, such as Grassmann line geometry, can thus be applied to the presented parallel robot with a configurable platform.