Manipulator Structures

What is a Manipulator?
o A robot manipulator is a device used to manipulate materials without direct contact. o Robot manipulators consist of rigid links, which are connected through joint actuators that create relative motion of neighboring links. o Manipulator can be divided in to two sections.
o Body and Arm o Wrist

What is a Manipulator?
o Arm and Body - The arm and body of a robot are used to move and position parts or tools within a work envelope. They are formed from three joints connected by large links. o Wrist - The wrist is used to orient the parts or tools at the work location. It consists of two or three compact joints.

Manipulator Elements
three joints connected by large links .. o Link - The connection of different manipulator joints is known as Robot Links. o A link will be in the form of solid material. o There are two types of links
o Input Links o Output Links

o The movement of the input link allows the output to the move at various motions. o An input link will be located nearer to the base.

Manipulator Elements
o Joint Integration of two or more link is known as a Joint o Joint Axis
o An axis is a straight line around which a link rotates, or along a link moves.

o A joint is an important element in a robot manipulator. It allows the links to move relative to each other. o Joints are categorized according to the relative motion of the links.
Prismatic Joints Revolute Joints

Linear Joints

Orthogonal Joints

Rotational Joints

Revolving Joints

Twist Joints

Manipulator Elements
Revolute Joints
Rotational Joints
This type will allow links to perform rotary motion about the joint axis. Joint axes is perpendicular to the motion plane of the link. Rotational Joints are represented as R-joints.

Revolving Joints
The output link axis is perpendicular to the joint axis and the input link is parallel to the input link axis. Revolving Joints are represented as V-Joints

Manipulator Elements
Revolute Joints
Twisting Joints (Cylindrical Joints)
This type allows twist motion among the input link and the output link. Link axes and joint axis are parallel. Twisting Joints are represented as T-joints.

Manipulator Elements
Prismatic Joints
Linear Joints
This type of joints can perform both translational and sliding movements. Link axes and the joint axis are parallel. Linear Joints are represented as L-joints.

Orthogonal Joints
This type of joints are similar to the linear joints but the output link axis is perpendicular to the input and joint axes. Orthogonal Joints are represented as O-Joints

Manipulator Structures
Serial Link Manipulators
o In a serial link manipulator every link is connected to every other link by one and only one path. Advantages
large workspace with respect to the size of the robot and the floor space it occupies

Disadvantages
the low stiffness inherent to an open kinematic structure, errors are accumulated and amplified from link to link, the fact that they have to carry and move the large weight of most of the actuators, and the relatively low effective load that they can manipulate.

Manipulator Structures
Parallel Link Manipulators
Every link is connected to every other link by at least two distinct paths. Advantages
high rigidity can be achieve with a small mass of the manipulator. can achieve high precision and high speeds. can handle large payloads compared to serial link manipulators.

Disadvantages
limited size of the workspace existence of singularities

Manipulator Structures
Cartesian Robot

Hierarchy of Manipulators

Cylindrical Robot Spherical Robot SCARA I SCARA II Articulated Robot Stewart Platform Delta Robot

Serial Link Manipulator

Manipulator Structures
Parallel Link Manipulator

Serial Link Manipulators

Cartesian Robot
o Notation : LOO (PPP) o Made out of three sliding joints. o Work envelop of cartesian robot is a rectangular box. o Precision
o Horizontal Precision : Uniform o Vertical Precision : Uniform

o Advantages
o o o o o Simple structure High rigidity High precision. High repeatability. High speeds.

Serial Link Manipulators

Cartesian Robot
o Disadvantages
o Low dexterity o Size of the robot is larger than the work envelop o Less number of degrees of freedom

o Applications
o o o o o CNC machines Circuit board manufacturing Machine loading and unloading Stacking, unitizing, palletizing, Coordinate measuring applications

Serial Link Manipulators

Cylindrical Robot
o Notation : TLO (RPP) o Made out of one revolute joint and two sliding joints. o Work envelop is cylinder like. o Mainly three degree of freedom o Not widely used in modern industry o Precision
o Horizontal Precision : Decrease radially. o Vertical Precision : Uniform.

o Applications
o Pick and place applications o Loading unloading applications

Serial Link Manipulators

Spherical Robot
o Notation : TRL (RRP) o Made out of two revolute joints and one sliding joints. o Work envelop is sphere like o Mainly three degree of freedom o Not widely used in modern industry o Precision
o Horizontal Precision : Decrease radially. o Vertical Precision : Decrease radially.

o Applications
o Material handling applications

Serial Link Manipulators

SCARA Robot
o Notation : VRO (RRP) o SCARA Selective Compliant Assembly Robot Arm. o Made out of two revolute joints and one sliding joints. o Can achieve high speed movements. o Precision
o Horizontal Precision : Varies. o Vertical Precision : Uniform.

o Applications
o Pick and place applications o PCB Manufacturing applications

Serial Link Manipulators

Articulated Robot
o o o o o Notation : RRR (RRR) Made out of three revolute joints Analogous to human arm Most widely used industrial robot Most robots have five or six degrees of freedom

Serial Link Manipulators

Articulated Robot
o Precision
o Horizontal Precision : Varies. o Vertical Precision : Varies.

o Applications
o o o o o o Pick and place applications. Stacking, unitizing, palletizing. Welding applications. Painting applications. Machine loading applications Drilling, deburing applications

Forward Kinematics
o Kinematics is the analysis of motion without regard to the forces/torques that cause the motion o Within kinematics, one studies position, velocity, acceleration, (and even higher order derivatives of position) with respect to time. o Kinematics refers to manipulator geometry and time based properties of motion

Singularities
o World War 1 Vintage biplane : the gunner controls azimuth and elevation(2dof) to target enemy planes o Comment on the ease of targeting the enemy at low elevations (25o) and high elevations (80o) o Comment on the targeting capability of the mechanism when o the enemy plane is at (90o) elevation o Comment on the number of dofs of the mechanism at 90o elevation o The mechanism become locally degenerated behaves as if it had one dof, the elevation