Singularity-free evolution from one configuration to another in serial and fully-parallel manipulators

Among the several ways adopted for the characterization of manipulator performances is identification of the typologies of maneuvers allowed by the manipulator kinematic arrangement. The multiplicity of configurations corresponding to a given hand position for serial manipulators, or to a given set of input values for fullyparallel manipulators, makes one wonder whether a manipulator can perform the maneuver of changing its configuration without meeting singularities. The paper shows that singularity-free configuration change is possible both for general-geometry serial and fully-parallel architectures. Results are reported that shed light on potential performances of manipulators and allow, in perspective, a deeper exploitation of their structural peculiarities. © 1998 by ASME.