New kinematic structures for 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-DOF parallel manipulator designs

In this paper, several types of composite pairs and new kinds of sub-chains (limbs or legs) with specific degrees of freedom are proposed. Based on the special Plucker coordinates for describing the displacement of the output link of a limb, the principle for design of structures of parallel robotic mechanisms is presented. And several new types of 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-DOF parallel robotic mechanisms are obtained. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.