Optimization design of general triglide parallel manipulators

Abstract Optimization design of parallel manipulators has attracted much interest from researchers in recent years. The reported methodologies attempted to achieve optimal design of parallel manipulators considering several properties, such as dexterity, stiffness, and space utilization, which are important parameters to be considered. However, stiffness analysis considered by many researchers generally ignores the deformation of the mobile platform. For space utilization, there is no reported method to consider the variation in the physical size caused by different postures of the manipulator. Additionally, although optimization of a linear delta and an orthoglide has been presented by several researchers, optimization of a general triglide has not been reported. In order to address these issues, this paper presents a multi-objective optimization addressing dexterity, stiffness, and space utilization of a general triglide. Its stiffness matrix is obtained considering the deformation of mobile platform, limbs, and actuators. A novel stiffness index is used to evaluate its stiffness property considering external wrench applied on the manipulator. The physical size of the triglide is represented using both a constant size and a variable size. Comparing with a reported optimization methodology, it is proven that the proposed method is capable of providing optimal solutions with better properties.