Parallel Manipulators

Robots are a key element in current industrial processes, as they can be applied to a number of tasks, increasing both quality and productivity. Traditionally, serial robots have been installed in factories, as their wide operating space allowed them to fulfill a number of tasks. However, due to their high moving mass and single kinematic chain structure, these robots present some disadvantages when high speed, accuracy or heavy load handling tasks have to be executed. Parallel robots provide an interesting alternative to these application fields, as their multiple kinematic chain structure offers increased stiffness, allowing reduced positioning errors, lighter mechanisms and increased load/weight ratios. In this book, Chapter One addresses a new control strategy for parallel manipulators based on L1 adaptive control. This latter is known for its decoupled control and estimation loops, enabling fast adaptation and guaranteed robustness. Chapter Two focuses on the control of parallel robots. Chapter Three reviews structure synthesis of fully-isotropic two-rotational and two-translational parallel robotic manipulators. Chapter Four reviews the new prototype of the two-legged, parallel kinematic walking robot CENTAUROB, developed at Hamburg University of Technology. Chapter Five analyzes and robustly controls the 6-DOF 3-legged Wide-Open parallel manipulator, using a Lyapunov analysis approach.