A novel type of parallel manipulator with flexible morphing platform

Abstract Parallel manipulators with flexible morphing platform (FMP) provide potential solution in various application fields, such as shape-morphing underwater robot, deformable wings, and human–machine interfaces. However, there is still lack of effective approach for the design and analysis of such novel type of parallel manipulator. In this article, a 9-UPS redundant actuation parallel manipulator with flexible morphing moving platform is designed as a representative of this kind of manipulator. Correspondingly, a deformation estimation and shape control approach for the FMP is presented. The proposed deformation estimation approach is designed based on the bending energy, which can achieve high calculation efficiency and avoid complex mechanical definition and calculation. And the proposed shape control approach is realized by utilizing a nonrigid ICP match algorithm, which can continuously deform the morphing platform to an arbitrary target surface. A prototype of the 9-UPS parallel manipulator is fabricated and analyzed as verification. The experiment results show that the proposed approach offers a promising avenue for the deformation estimation and shape control of the morphing platform.