Inverse Kinematics and Motion Simulation of a 2-DOF Parallel Manipulator with 3-PUP Legs

This paper presents a position analysis of a novel parallel manipulator with three \({\underline P}UP\) legs. By investigating the loop-closure equation for the manipulator, the paper presents a closed-form solution of the inverse kinematics problem. The platform of the parallel mechanism under investigation has two independent degrees of freedom, namely, a translation and a rotation about a skew axis. The paper also shows that the platform is subjected to one parasitic motion, which is an additional translation. The paper validates the obtained closed-form equations with a numerical example. Finally, the results of this example are compared with the results of a kinematics simulation using a commercially available software package.