A spatial path specification system for mechanism development

In this article a novel concept for specification of spatial paths for mechanism and kinematic design applications is presented. Mechanism designers use e.g. sketches for specification of motion curves. If these are created based on oral description, misunderstanding or inadequate formulation are sources of error. Further, it is difficult to generate them for spatial problems. The presented approach is based on a manipulator programming technique. Using a force controlled manipulator we induce motion of a model of a mechanism. To obtain spatial curves the model's trajectory is recorded. These discrete trajectories can be used as input for mechanism synthesis software. Manual transcription of e.g. lingual path descriptions is not needed, thus communication between kinematic designers can be sped up. The system was validated experimentally by specifying paths of a car door.