Virtual Manufacturing Tools for Collaborative Exploration of Hexapod Machine Capabilities and Applications

The Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recently initiated the National Advanced Manufacturing Testbed (NAMT). This is a testbed to demonstrate how machines, software, and people can be efficiently and effectively networked together to improve productivity and foster innovation at all levels of a manufacturing enterprise. "Characterization, Remote Access, and Simulation of Hexapod Machines,” a technical project within the NAMT, involves the investigation of a new class of parallelactuated machine tools based on the Stewart Platform. This paper describes how the characterization and simulation efforts of this project are being integrated with a remote virtual environment. This environment will allow external collaborators to perform real-time experiments and to interactively use simulation and modeling tools for this experimental machine tool from geographically distributed locations.