Abstract The geometry of the robotic structure directly influences the positional and orientational capabilities of a manipulator. Among the existing robot geometries, the ideal elbow and dual-elbow manipulators are known to provide the maximum reachable and dextrous workspaces for a given total link length. Despite the fact that the ideal dual-elbow manipulators share the basic properties of the ideal-elbow manipulators, they have received scant attention in the literature. In a companion paper [Mech. Mach. Theory28, 357–373 (1993)], the ideal elbow and dual-elbow geometries have been thoroughly studied. In this paper, realistic elbow and dual-elbow geometries, incorporating designed deviations from the ideal case and unavoidable manufacturing errors, are considered. It is shown that practical dual-elbow robots are superior in terms of reachability and dexterity, especially for applications that require a relatively small tool length.
[1]
D. C. H. Yang,et al.
On the Workspace of Mechanical Manipulators
,
1983
.
[2]
D. C. H. Yang,et al.
On the Dexterity of Robotic Manipulators—Service Angle
,
1985
.
[3]
Vassilios D. Tourassis,et al.
A comparative study of ideal elbow and dual-elbow robot manipulators
,
1993
.
[4]
Kenneth J. Waldron,et al.
Geometric Optimization of Serial Chain Manipulator Structures for Working Volume and Dexterity
,
1986
.
[5]
D. C. H. Yang,et al.
On the Evaluation of Manipulator Workspace
,
1983
.
[6]
S. Shankar Sastry,et al.
Optimal Kinematic Design of 6R Manipulators
,
1988,
Int. J. Robotics Res..