Authors:
Bryan Kelly
;
J. Padayachee
and
G. Bright
Affiliation:
Discipline of Mechanical Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, King George V Avenue, Durban and South Africa
Keyword(s):
Serial, Open Chain, Closed Chain, Parallel, Hybrid, Palletizing, Quasi-serial, Rapid Prototyping, 3D Printing, Kinematics, Closed Loop Parallelogram.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics
;
Mechatronics Systems
;
Modeling, Simulation and Architectures
;
Robot Design, Development and Control
;
Robotics and Automation
Abstract:
Industrial automation has revolutionised manufacturing and the manufacturing environment. Advanced manufacturing requires a variety of different robotic manipulators for industrial applications, each with their defining characteristics. This research paper describes the differences between current industrial manipulators; it then proposes an open chain hybrid kinematic platform, consisting of closed loop parallelograms. The application of such a hybrid mechanism is apparent with material handling operations such as providing solutions for palletizing. A quasi-serial architecture was selected and its corresponding components were 3D printed. The forward kinematic equations were derived via a geometric approach. The outputs of these kinematic equations are then validated against empirical results obtained through an equivalent SolidWorks model of the robot.