Analysis of kinematics/statics and workspace of a 2(SP+SPR+SPU) serial–parallel manipulator

The kinematics/statics and workspace of a 2(SP+SPR+SPU) serial–parallel manipulator are studied systematically. First, a 2(SP+SPR+SPU) manipulator including an upper and a lower SP+SPR+SPU parallel manipulators is constructed, and the inverse/forward displacements, velocity, acceleration and statics of the lower/upper parallel manipulators are studied, respectively. Second, the kinematics and statics of the lower/upper manipulators are combined and the displacement, velocity, acceleration, statics, and workspace of a 2(SP+SPR+SPU) manipulator are analyzed systematically. Third, the analytic solutions’ examples are given and verified by the simulation mechanism. This manipulator has some potential applications for the robot’s arm, leg, and twist, the serial–parallel machine tools, the sensor, the surgical manipulator, the tunnel borer, the barbette of warship, and the satellite surveillance platform.