Kinematic calibration and investigation of the influence of universal joint errors on accuracy improvement for a 3-DOF parallel manipulator

Abstract This paper focuses on the accuracy enhancement of a 3- P RRU parallel manipulator and the influence of imperfect universal joints on calibration result through kinematic calibration. The error model of the P RRU limb that contains all of the identifiable kinematic errors is established based on modified Denavit–Hartenberg method and Hayati convention. By eliminating the motion errors of passive joints and combining all of the limbs’ error models, the calibration model of the parallel manipulator is obtained. To verify the effectiveness of the error model and investigate the influence of the imperfect universal joints on positioning accuracy improvement, numerical simulations and experiments of kinematic calibration are respectively conducted and total least squares method is used to identify the kinematic parameters. The results of the simulations and experiments show that the defects of universal joints have smaller effect on the accuracy improvement for this manipulator when compared with the cases that the universal joints are perfectly manufactured and assembled.

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