On mobility and relative freedoms in multiloop linkages and structures

Abstract Recent advances in the understanding and determination of the relative freedom between a particular pair of members in a multiloop linkage are shown to be capable of wider utilisation. The definition of linkage mobility is placed in perspective as secondary to a study of internal freedoms. The non-rigidity of a structure is directly related to instantaneous motion capability of a linkage, and is seen to be amenable to the same algorithm. The exposition is presented largely through the use of examples.