Mechanical Design and Analysis of a Novel Symmetrical 2T1R Parallel Robot

The planar parallel robots are widely employed in industrial applications due to simple geometry, few linkage interferences, and a large, reachable workspace. The symmetric geometry can bring significant convenience to parallel robots. The complexity of the mathematic models can be simplified since only one calculation method can be proposed to deal with various kinematic limbs in a parallel manipulator. The symmetric geometry can ease the assembly and maintenance procedures due to the modular design of linkages/joints. A novel 2-translation and 1-rotation (2T1R) parallel robot with symmetric geometry is proposed in this research. There is one closed loop in each kinematic limb, and 18 revolute joints are applied in its planar structure. Both the inverse and direct kinematic models are explored. The first-order relationship between robot inputs and outputs are constructed. Various singularity configurations are obtained based on the Jacobian matrix. The reachable workspace is resolved by the discrete spatial searching methodology, followed by the impacts originating from various linkages. The dexterity analysis of the parallel robot is conducted.