Analtical‐ form direct kinematicefor the second scheme of a 5–5 general‐geometry fully parallel manipulator

This article presents the direct kinematics of a 6 degrees of freedom fully parallel manipulator that features five connection points on both base and platform. The considered leg arrangement is one of the two possible, the other having been referred to in a previous paper. The base and platform have a general geometry, i.e., the connection points are not bound to lie on planes. The direct kinematics is solved in analytical form, which allows determination of every possible solution. After a suitable set of five equations in five unknowns has been laid down, and an original elimination procedure applied, a final polynomial equation of the 24th order is found whose 24 solutions correspond to as many assembly configurations for the considered fully parallel manipulator. A case study is reported. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 1995 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company