Design and analysis of a compliant polishing manipulator with tensegrity-based parallel mechanism

ABSTRACT

Tensegrity mechanisms are lighter weight, lower inertial force and higher strength to weight ratio compared with conventional ones. This paper proposes a four-DOF automatic device for polishing the surface of a workspiece, in which a passive tensegrity-based parallel mechanism is connected to an industrial robot arm through an adjustable spring-loaded prismatic joint. The device consists of moving and base platforms that are connected by three compliant spring legs and one rigid central leg. A major advantage of this device is that attitude of polishing tool mounted on the moving platform can be changed automatically to fit the polished workspiece surface without any sensors, due to the three compliant spring legs. The kinematics, statics and stiffness problems of the mechanism are considered and solved. Finally, an experiment is executed on the surface of a discarded car shell, to verify the reliability of the polishing device within ranges of some parameters.

KEYWORDS:

• Tensegrity
• parallel mechanism
• static analysis
• stiffness
• polishing manipulator

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51075045]; Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20161192].

Notes on contributors

Wei Zhu

Wei Zhu received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Jiangsu University of Science and Technology in 1998 and earned his PhD degree from Jiangsu University in2007.Since 2007, he has engaged in teaching and research in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Changzhou University, China. He was promoted to associate professor in 2007, respectively. His main areas of interest are multidimensional vibration control, tensegrity mechanisms and system monitoring and control.

Jiahong Liu

Jiahong Liu received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from North China Institute of Science and Technology, China, in 2018. Since 2018, he has been Master candidate in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Changzhou University. His research interest has included tensegrity mechanisms and parallel manipulators.

Hanbing Li

Hanbing Li received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Changzhou University, China, in 2016. He earned his Master degree from Changzhou University, China, in 2019. His research interest lies in the tensegrity robotics.

Kairong Gu

Kairong Gu received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Changzhou University, China, in 2015. He earned his Master degree from Changzhou University, China, in 2018. His research interest has included tensegrity mechanisms.