Huafeng Ding1

e-mail: dhf@ysu.edu.cn

Wenao Cao
e-mail: cwao1986@163.com
Robotics Research Center,
Yanshan University,
Qinhuangdao 066004, China

Andres Kecskemethy
Chair for Mechanics and Robotics,
University of Duisburg-Essen,
47057 Duisburg,Germany
e-mail: andres.kecskemethy@uni-due.de

Zhen Huang
Robotics Research Center,
Yanshan University,
Qinhuangdao 066004, China
e-mail: huangz@ysu.edu.cn

Complete Atlas Database of

2-DOF Kinematic Chains and
Creative Design of Mechanisms
The creation of novel kinematic structures of mechanisms still represents a major challenge
in the quest for developing new, innovative devices. In this setting, computer models that
can automatically generate and visualize all possible independent structures in an intuitive
manner prove to be valuable as a support in the creative process of the designer. This
paper proposes an automatic approach for establishing the complete atlas database of
2-DOF kinematic chains and a systematic approach for the creative design of mechanisms
based on such an atlas. First, the transformation of the kinematic structure into a graphbased representation is addressed. Then, an approach for the generation of all nonfractionated topological graphs of 2-DOF (degrees of freedom) kinematic chains using contracted
graphs as well as a method for synthesizing all the fractionated topological graphs through
the combination of corresponding 1-DOF kinematic chains are addressed. Based on these
methods, the complete atlas database of 2-DOF kinematic chains up to 15 links is established in this paper for the first time. Using this complete database, a systematic approach
for the creative design of mechanisms can be derived, as illustrated for the example of an
11-link 2-DOF rode tractor. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4005866]
Keywords: mechanism, structural synthesis, creative design, topological graph, atlas
database

Introduction

Multi-DOF mechanisms are widely used in various products

and equipments such as micro-electromechanical systems, high
precision surgical tools, engineering machinery, and robots. The
creation of novel kinematic structures of mechanisms is an important issue in the creative design of devices, as it does not only provide a basis for the structural optimization of existing mechanisms
but also to invent novel mechanisms [13]. For a long time, the
creation of a set of candidate mechanisms was mainly realized
through the experience and intuition of the researcher. Since
1960s, however, many systematic approaches have been proposed
for the synthesis of kinematic chains and creative design of mechanisms [4,5], which are still under further development.
Crossley [6], Dobrjanskyj and Freudenstein [7], and Woo [8]
are among the first to introduce graph theory to the study of the
topological structure of kinematic chains. The dual graph
approach was presented by Sohn and Freudenstein [9] to generate
automatically the topological structures of mechanisms. Yan and
Hwang [10] proposed the permutation-group approach for the
structural synthesis of kinematic chains. Yan [11] proposed a
methodology for the creative design of mechanisms by first
obtaining the general kinematic chain for a specified mechanism
and then synthesizing other possible mechanisms based on the kinematic chain. Hwang and Hwang [12] proposed a new matrix,
the contracted link adjacency matrix, to represent kinematic
chains and used it as the representation matrix to synthesize kinematic chains. Yang [13] and Yang and Yao [14] developed a
method for structural synthesis of kinematic chains with planar
and nonplanar graphs on the basis of the single-opened chain
technique. Rao [15,16] employed the Hamming number technique
for the structural synthesis of kinematic chains by using F-DOF,
(N-2)-links chains as the basic chains to synthesize F-DOF, N-link
1
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Mechanisms and Robotics Committee of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received July 4, 2011; final
manuscript received January 10, 2012; published online February 28, 2012. Assoc.
Editor: Pierre M. Larochelle.

Journal of Mechanical Design

chains. The metamorphic mechanism, first proposed by Dai and

Rees Jones [17], is studied by many researchers and some structural synthesis methods for this novel mechanism were proposed
[1820]. By using Polyas theory and the permutation-group, Yan
et al. [2123] studied the synthesis of specialized mechanisms
from given kinematic chains.
However, the progress toward full automation of structural synthesis of mechanisms has been slow and hard for quite a long time
[2,24,25]. Ding et al. [24] established the unified topological models and corresponding mathematical representations for planar
simple joint, multiple joint and geared (cam) kinematic chains.
Moreover, most of the structural synthesis methods reported in literature generate the synthesized structures in an algebraic representation which is not as intuitive as a direct graphic interaction
with designers and thus makes them impractical for conceptual
design [25]. A method which would directly display the kinematic
structures in graphs would give designers a better visual understanding of the linkjoint interrelationship of the generated kinematic chains and thus make them more suitable in the creative
design phase [26].
This paper proposes an automatic method to establish the complete atlas database (including both nonfractionated and fractionated kinematic chains) of 2-DOF kinematic chains up to 15 links
using highly efficient methods both for isomorphism identification
[27] and for rigid subchain detection [28] in the synthesis process.
In this setting, the corresponding topological graphs (TG) can be
automatically rendered, giving a visual understanding of the system at hand to the user. Such an example of creative design of
mechanisms based on the atlas database is presented for an 11link 2-DOF rode tractor. The overall structure of the paper is
organized as follows. In Sec. 2, the transformation of the kinematic structure of mechanisms into a graph-based representation
is addressed. In Sec. 3, all the kinematic structures of nonfractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains with up to 15 links are synthesized
via their contracted graphs (CG). In Sec. 4, all the fractionated 2DOF kinematic chains with up to 15 links are synthesized through
the combination of corresponding 1-DOF kinematic chains. In
Sec. 5, as an example of the proposed method, the creation design

C 2012 by ASME
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graph. For example, Fig. 1(c) depicts the kinematic chain for the
mechanism in Fig. 1(b), while Fig. 1(d) represents its topological
graph. In a topological graph, the degree of a vertex is defined as
the number of edges that are incident with the vertex. A vertex
whose degree is equal to two is defined as a binary vertex and a
vertex whose degree is greater than two is defined as a multipledegree vertex.
In a topological graph, a binary path, beginning and ending
with an edge, is a path satisfying the following two conditions:
(1) both the beginning edge and ending edge are incident with
a multiple-degree vertex
(2) all vertices on the path are binary vertices

Fig. 1 (a) A rode tractor, (b) kinematic sketch of mechanism,

(c) kinematic chain, (d) topological graph, and (e) contracted
graph

for 11-link 2-DOF rode tractors is illustrated, yielding eight completely novel mechanisms which satisfy the proposed design constraints as well as the one that has been previously reported in the
literature [29]. This shows the effectiveness and efficiency of the
method.

Basic Concepts

2.1 Purpose of the Paper. Multiple DOFs mechanisms are

widely used in robotics and machine equipment. Part of the feasible mechanisms which satisfy a specified design task can be conceived on the designers experience and other creative design
methods. However, the creation of all possible mechanisms for a
given task has been for a long time a hard nut to crack. This is a
serious drawback, as the selection of a mechanism with the best
performance for a specified design task is only possible when all
the feasible mechanisms are compared. For example, consider the
rode tractor in Fig. 1(a). This is a widely used piece of engineering machinery, consisting of 11-links and 2-DOF. The kinematic
sketch of the mechanism is shown in Fig. 1(b). Now two important questions to ask are
(1) Which other possibilities exist for the design of the
mechanism?
(2) Is the mechanism in Fig. 1(b) the best for an 11-link, 2DOF rode tractor?
Obviously, only when the first question is answered, one can
answer the second question, after which the fully automatic kinematic and dynamic analysis can be carried out [3032]. The paper
attempts to answer the first question by first establishing a complete
atlas database of 2-DOF mechanisms up to 15 links and then using
the topological graphs in the atlas database to obtain all the feasible
mechanisms for a specified task under specified design constraints.
2.2 Graph-Based Model of Mechanisms. In order to establish the complete atlas database containing all the kinematic structures of mechanisms, the topological graph and the contracted
graph are adopted to represent the topological structure of a mechanism. It is easy to establish the topological graph of a kinematic
chain: vertices of the graph denote the links of the chain and edges
of the graph denote the joints. The TG of a kinematic chain corresponds with its structure, i.e., the kinematic structure of a kinematic chain can be studied through the structure of its topological
031006-2 / Vol. 134, MARCH 2012

For example, in Fig. 1(d) the path constituted by edge (1,2),

vertex 2, edge (2,3), vertex 3, and edge (3,4) is a binary path (an
edge is represented by the two vertices it is incident with).
The CG of a topological graph can be obtained by replacing
each binary path in the topological graph with an edge. For example, after the four binary paths in Fig. 1(d) are replaced by four
edges, the contracted graph is obtained, shown in Fig. 1(e).
Both the topological graph and the contracted graph can be represented by their adjacency matrices. The adjacency matrix for a
topological graph is well known in literature and will not be
addressed here. The adjacency matrix for a contracted graph is
defined as
 
A xij bb
8
< k; if vertices i and j are adjacent through k edges
s; if vertex i has s selfloops
(1)
:
0; otherwise
where b is the number of the vertices of the contracted graph. The
adjacency matrix of the contracted graph in Fig. 1(e) is
2
3
0 2 1 0
62 0 1 07
7
(2)
A6
41 1 0 35
0 0 3 0
In a contracted graph, two vertices are said to have k  1 multiple
edges if they are connected directly through k (k > 1) edges. The
number of multiple edges for a contracted graph is defined as the
sum of the numbers of multiple edges between every pair of vertices. For example, in Fig. 1(e), vertices 1 and 2 have one multiple
edge and vertices 3 and 4 have two multiple edges. Thus, the
graph in Fig. 1(e) has three multiple edges.
2.3 Fractionated
and
Nonfractionated
Kinematic
Chains. If a kinematic chain can be separated into two independent kinematic chains at a link or joint, the chain is called a fractionated kinematic chain. Fractionation can be divided into two basic
types: link-fractionation and joint-fractionation. Any fractionated
kinematic chain is either one of them or their combination.
For example, the kinematic chain in Fig. 1(c) can be separated
into two independent 6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains from link 4,
so it is a link-fractionated kinematic chain.
If a kinematic chain cannot be separated into two independent
kinematic chains at any link or joint, the kinematic chain is a nonfractionated kinematic chain. For example, the kinematic chain in
Fig. 2 is a nonfractionated kinematic chain.
Based on the classification, the complete atlas database of
N-link F-DOF kinematic chains can be obtained by the following
two steps:
(1) Synthesize all the topological graphs of nonfractionated kinematic chains with their contracted graphs.
(2) Synthesize all the topological graphs of fractionated kinematic chains through the combination of appropriate nonfractionated kinematic chains.
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Table 1 Contracted graphs of 11-link 2-DOF nonfractionated

kinematic chains
LAA

Contracted graphs and their classification

[5,6,0,0]

[6,4,1,0]

Fig. 2 A nonfractionated kinematic chain and its topological

graph

Atlas Database of Nonfractionated Chains

3.1 Synthesis of Contracted Graphs. The type of links and

their number that are necessary to form a kinematic chain with
specified number of links (N) and degrees of freedom (F) are
defined as the link assortment. In the paper, the so-called link
assortment array is used to represent link assortment. The link
assortment array of a kinematic chain is represented by


(3)
N2 ; N3 ; ; Np

[7,2,2,0]

[8,0,3,0]

[7,3,0,1]

[8,1,1,1]

where N2, N3, N4, are the numbers of binary, ternary, quaternary
links, etc., in that order. If the number is greater than nine, alphabetic letters are used instead in order to avoid multidigital numbers: A represents 10, B represents 11, C represents 12, and so on.
For example, the link assortment array [4, C, 0, 0, 0, 0] denotes
that the number of ternary links (N3) is 12. The highest connectivity p of a link in a kinematic chain is determined by the following
two equations [33]:
(1) if F  1, then p N  F 1=2
(2) if F  2, then p minfN  F  1;

N F  1=2g

The link assortment array for F-link N-DOF mechanisms is

determined by [33]
8
p
P
<
d  3Nd
N2 F 3
(4)
d4
:
N N2 N3    Np
For example, based on Eq. (4), seven link assortment arrays for
11-link 2-DOF nonfractionated mechanisms is obtained: [5,6,0,0],
[6,4,1,0], [7,2,2,0], [8,0,3,0], [7,3,0,1], [8,1,1,1], and [9,0,0,2].
Usually, for a link assortment array [N2, N3, N4, , Np], many
contracted graphs can be synthesized. The elements xij of the adjacency matrix of every contracted graph satisfy the following synthesis equation set:
8
x12 x13 x14 ::: x1b d1
>
>
> x x x ::: x d
>
< 12
23
24
2b
2
x13 x23 x34 ::: x3b d3
(5)
>
>
:::
>
>
:
x1b x2b x3b ::: xb1b db
where b is the number of vertices of the contracted graph and [d1,
d2, , db] (di  di1) are the degrees of the vertices corresponding to the link assortment array [N2, N3, N4, , Np].
For example, [6,4,1,0] is a possible link assortment array for an
11-link 2-DOF kinematic chain. Here N3 4, so there are four
vertices whose degrees are equal to 3 in the corresponding
Journal of Mechanical Design

[9,0,0,2]

contracted graphs; N4 1, so there is one vertex whose degree is

equal to 4. The synthesis equation set of contracted graphs corresponding to the link assortment array [6,4,1,0] is
8
x12 x13 x14 x15 4
>
>
>
>
< x12 x23 x24 x25 3
x13 x23 x34 x35 3
(6)
>
>
> x14 x24 x34 x45 3
>
:
x15 x25 x35 x45 3
Based on Eq. (5) and an efficient method to detect isomorphism
[27], all contracted graphs for 2-DOF nonfractionated kinematic
chains up to 15 links can be synthesized automatically. One
obtains thus only one contracted graph for 7-link kinematic
chains, four contracted graphs for 9-link kinematic chains, 17 contracted graphs for 11-link kinematic chains, 118 contracted graphs
for 13-link kinematic chains, and 1198 contracted graphs for 15link kinematic chains.
For example, Table 1 shows all the contracted graphs corresponding to 11-link 2-DOF nonfractionated kinematic chains.
From the table, it can be seen that all five contracted graphs correspond to the link assortment array [5,6,0,0]. The first two have
zero multiple edge; the third graph has one multiple edge; the
fourth graph has two multiple edges; the last one has three multiple edges.
3.2 Synthesis of Topological Graphs. The contracted graph
is obtained by replacing every binary path with an edge in a topological graph. Vice versa, the topological graphs can be obtained
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if N2 binary vertices are inserted to the edges of a contracted

graph. Although the concept of the contracted graph in graph
theory had been adopted by many researchers to synthesize kinematic chains, only those consisting of up to 12 links have been
previously reported in the literature [33,34]. In this paper, based
on the concept of contracted graphs, topological graphs of 2-DOF
nonfractionated kinematic chains with up to 15 links will be synthesized and displayed in graph form.
Theorem 1. For a topological graph of nonfractionated F-DOF
kinematic chains with more than one loop, the number of binary
vertices on any binary path is less than or equal to F 1.
Proof. Kinematic chains with only one loop, such as 4-link
1-DOF kinematic chains, 5-link 2-DOF kinematic chains, etc.,
need not to be considered here. For a topological graph of nonfractionated kinematic chains, the subgraph obtained by deleting
any binary path is also a valid topological graph with DOF  1. If
there exists a binary path with F 2 or more binary vertices on it
in a topological graph of nonfractionated kinematic chains, the removal of the binary path will reduce the DOFs of the topological
graph by at least F. This would lead to a DOF of the remaining
subgraph of less than one. Thus, it is impossible that any binary
path in a topological graph of nonfractionated F-DOF kinematic
chains has F 2 or more binary vertices.
In the process of synthesizing topological graphs from contracted graphs, we suppose xi binary vertices are to be added to
edge ei. In order to make the synthesis of 2-DOF kinematic chains
more efficient, three rules are proposed.
Rule 1: The scope of xi and the sum of xi satisfy
8
< 0  xi  3
t
P
: xi N 2

Fig. 3 A contracted graph of an 11-link 2-DOF kinematic chain

In Fig. 3, the numbers of vertices on three loops (the first loop is

constituted by edges e1 and e2, the second by edges e5, e6, and e7,
the third by edges e7, e8, and e9) are smaller than 4. Based on rule
(3), the synthesis equation is
8
< x1 x2  2
x x6 x7  1
(12)
: 5
x7 x8 x9  1
According to Eqs. (10), (11), and (12), the synthesis equation set
for the contracted graph in Fig. 3 is
8 9
P
>
>
xi 5
>
>
>
i1
>
>
>
> 0  xi  3
>
<
x1  x2
>
>
>
x
>
1 x2  2
>
>
>
>
x
x6 x7  1
>
>
: 5
x7 x8 x9  1

(7)

i1

where t is the total number of the edges for a contracted graph.

Rule 2: If two vertices have k  1 multiple edges, without loss
of generality, the number of binary vertices to be assigned to these
k edges ei, ei1, ..., eik1 satisfies
xi  xi1      xik1

(8)

Rule 3: In order to reduce the number of kinematic chains containing rigid subchains, at least (4-Tj) binary vertices must be inserted
for each loop j with Tj < 4 vertices, i.e.,
X
xi  4  T j
(9)
i2SLj

where SL(j) is the set of edges of a loop j for which the number of
vertices in each loop is smaller than 4.
For a contracted graph, the synthesis equation set of its topological graphs can be obtained by the above three rules. After isomorphism identification [27] and rigid subchain detection [28], all
valid (proper) topological graphs can be synthesized.
For example, let the contracted graph in Fig. 3 be taken in order
to synthesize an 11-link 2-DOF kinematic chain. As the contracted graph has nine edges and N2 5, based on rule (1) the synthesis equation is
8
< 0  xi  3
9
P
: xi 5

Vertices 1 and 2 are connected directly through two edges, e1 and

e2, and they have one multiple edge, so based on rule (2), the synthesis equation is

031006-4 / Vol. 134, MARCH 2012

All 36 valid topological graphs are synthesized after isomorphism

identification and rigid subchain detection, yielding the graphs
shown in Fig. 4.
In this way, all the topological graphs of nonfractionated 2-DOF
kinematic chains of up to 15 links are synthesized: 3 topological
graphs for 7-link kinematic chains, 35 topological graphs for 9-link
kinematic chains, 753 topological graphs for 11-link kinematic
chains, 27,496 topological graphs for 13-link kinematic chains, and
1,432,732 topological graphs for 15-link kinematic chains.
Table 2 shows the number information for the atlas databases
of 11-link 2-DOF nonfractionated kinematic chains. For example
in the link assortment array [5,6,0,0], the number of topological
graphs corresponding to the two contracted graphs with 0 multiple
edges are 26 and 80, respectively; the number of topological
graphs corresponding to the contracted graph with one multiple
edge is 36; the number of topological graphs corresponding to the
contracted graph with two multiple edges is 11. No valid topological graphs can be synthesized from the contracted graph with
three multiple edges for all the synthesized topological graphs
contain rigid subchains.
The number information for the atlas databases of 13-link
2-DOF nonfractionated kinematic chains is also shown in Table 3.

(10)

i1

x1  x2

(13)

(11)

Atlas Database of Fractionated Chains

4.1 Rules of Combination. Besides nonfractionated 2-DOF

kinematic chains, 2-DOF kinematic chains also consist of fractionated structures. As kinematic chain with one fractionated joint or
two or more fractionated links have at least three DOFs, fractionated
2-DOF kinematic chains may only contain one fractionated link.
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Fig. 4 Excerpt of 36 topological graphs corresponding to Fig. 3

That is, all fractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains can be synthesized

by the combination of two appropriate 1-DOF kinematic chains.
In general, for the synthesis of N-link 2-DOF fractionated kinematic chains, the number of links of appropriate 1-DOF kinematic
chains satisfies
8
< N1 N2 N 1
N  N2
(14)
: 1
Ni 4; 6; 8; 10;    i 1; 2
where N1 and N2 are the numbers of links of the appropriate 1-DOF
kinematic chains. Without loss of generality, we suppose N1  N2.
Table 2 Number of topological graphs of 11-link 2-DOF nonfractionated kinematic chains
LAA

Number of MEs

Number of CGs

Number of TGs

[5,6,0,0]

0
1
2

2
1
1

106(26,80)
36
11

[6,4,1,0]

0
1
2
3

1
1
1
1

125
151
54
6

[7,2,2,0]

1
2
3

1
1
2

91
50
34(20,14)

[8,0,3,0]
[7,3,0,1]
[8,1,1,1]
[9,0,0,2]

3
2
3
4

1
1
1
1

10
50
26
3

Journal of Mechanical Design

For example, all 11-link 2-DOF fractionated kinematic chains

can be synthesized by combining
(1) the 4-link 1-DOF kinematic chain with sixteen 8-link 1DOF kinematic chains
(2) the two 6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains
In order to avoid isomorphism in the synthesis process, the vertices in each topological graph of 1-DOF kinematic chains are classified into different sets based on their topological symmetry. Two
vertices are topological symmetry if one can switch the labels of
the two vertices and find a relabeling of the remaining vertices such
that the resulting graph is the same as the original one, i.e., that
they have the same adjacency matrices. A set Si for which every
pair of vertices in Si is topologically symmetric is called a symmetry set. For a given topological graph, all its symmetry set Si (i 1,
2,, r, where r is the number of sets) constitute the vertexsymmetry (VS) set of the topological graph, i.e., VS {S1, S2, ,
Sr}. Each symmetry set Si is an equivalent class that is uniquely
determined by any representative vertex in this set. A set of one
representative vertex from each Si is called a vertex-asymmetry
(VA) set. Obviously, any two vertices in VA are asymmetric.
For the example of Fig. 5(a), vertices 1 and 4 are symmetrical,
and vertices 2, 3, 5, and 6 are also symmetrical. Thus, the vertexsymmetry set for the topological graph in Fig. 5(a) is VSa {S1,
S2}, where S1 {1, 4}, S2 {2, 3, 5, 6}. A possible vertexasymmetry set of Fig. 5(a) is for example VAa {1, 2}, but VAa
can also be set equal to one of the sets of {1, 3}, {4, 2}, etc.,
which are equivalent.
Similarly, the vertex-symmetry set for the topological graph in
Fig. 5(b) is VSb {S1, S2, S3}, where S1 {1, 3}, S2 {2, 6}, and
S3 {4, 5}, and a possible vertex-asymmetry set of Fig. 5(b) is
for example VAb {1, 2, 4}.
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Table 3 Number of topological graphs of 13-link 2-DOF nonfractionated kinematic chains

LAA

Number of MEs

Number of CGs

Number of TGs

0
1
2
0
1
2
3
0
1
2
3
0
1
2
3
4

5
4
3
4
7
7
3
3
7
11
7
1
1
4
3
2

1272
328
33
4616
2645
447
20
3201
4171
1578
204
377
817
1091
219
16

2
4
0
1
2
3
1
2
3
4
2
3
4
2
3
4

1
2
1
2
2
2
2
3
5
1
1
2
1
1
1
2

83
21
415
1295
367
54
1460
1033
458
8
260
276
36
101
80
37

[A,0,1,2,0]
[8,4,0,0,1]

4
2
3

1
1
1

26
185
16

[9,2,1,0,1]
[A,0,2,0,1]
[A,1,0,1,1]

3
4
4

2
1
1

185
16
26

[B,0,0,0,2]

[5,8,0,0,0]

[6,6,1,0,0]

[7,4,2,0,0]

[8,2,3,0,0]

[9,0,4,0,0]
[7,5,0,1,0]

[8,3,1,1,0]

[9,1,2,1,0]

[9,2,0,2,0]

nig

Two 6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains

031006-6 / Vol. 134, MARCH 2012

(16)

4.2 Combination of AA Type. The type of combination

by using 1-DOF kinematic chains with the same number of links
to synthesize fractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains is defined as
the combination of AA type. For example, if two 6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains are used to synthesize 11-link 2-DOF fractionated
kinematic chains, this combination will be of AA type.
Suppose that the atlas database of N-link 1-DOF kinematic
chains has q different kinematic chains and that the vertexasymmetry sets for these topological graphs are VA1, VA2,, VAq,
respectively. Based on rule 4, all fractionated 2-DOF kinematic
chains combined by any two different kinematic chains in the
atlas database can be obtained by coinciding every vertex in VAi
with every vertex in VAj (where j 1, 2, , q  1, i j 1), and
the total number is
2
3
!2
q1 X
q
q
q
X
X
X
  1
25


4
DN
jVAi j VAj
jVAi j 
jVAi j
2
j1 ij1
i1
i1
(17)
Based on rule 5, the total number of all fractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains combined by every kinematic chain in the atlas database with itself is
jVAj
q X
X
i
(18)
SN
j1 i1

(15)

where |A| denotes the cardinality of a set A, i.e., its number of

elements.

Fig. 5

jVAj
X
i1

Rule 4: For two different nonfractionated topological graphs

whose vertex-asymmetry sets are VA1 and VA2, respectively, all
different fractionated topological graphs through the combination
of the two topological graphs can be obtained by letting every vertex in VA1 coincide with every vertex in VA2. Thus the total number of all different fractionated topological graphs for two
different nonfractionated topological graphs is
ndg jVA1 j  jVA2 j

Rule 5: For a nonfractionated topological graph whose vertexasymmetry set is VA, all different fractionated topological graphs
through the combination of the topological graph with itself can
be obtained by letting the first vertex in VA coincide with all vertices in VA, the second vertex in VA coincide with all vertices in VA
except the first, the third vertex in VA coincide with all vertices in
VA except the first two, and so on. Thus, the total number of all
different fractionated topological graphs for two identical nonfractionated topological graphs is

So altogether TN DN SN fractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains

can be synthesized through the combination of q kinematic chains
in the atlas database.
For example in Fig. 5(b), jVAb j 3 and altogether six fractionated topological graphs can be obtained by combining Fig. 5(b)
with itself, which are shown in Fig. 6.
In Fig. 5(a), jVAa j 2 and altogether six fractionated topological graphs can be obtained through combining Figs. 5(a) with
5(b). These topological graphs are shown in Fig. 7.
Altogether three fractionated topological graphs can be
obtained through combining Fig. 5(a) with itself. These topological graphs are shown in Fig. 8.
4.3 Combination of AB type. The type of combination by
using 1-DOF kinematic chains with different number of links to
synthesize fractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains is defined as the
combination of AB type. For example, if a 4-link kinematic chain
and an 8-link 1-DOF kinematic chain are used to synthesize an
11-link 2-DOF fractionated kinematic chain, this combination
will be of AB type.
Suppose the vertex-asymmetry sets for the q1 kinematic chains
in the atlas databases of N1-link 1-DOF kinematic chains are
VAa1, VAa2,, VAaq1 , and the vertex-asymmetry sets for the q2 kinematic chains in the atlas databases of N2-link 1-DOF kinematic
chains are VAb1, VAb2,, VAbq2 (where N1 6 N2). Based on rule
4, all different fractionated topological graphs through the combination of two topological graphs from the two atlas databases can
be obtained by coinciding every vertex in VAai with every vertex
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Fig. 6 Six fractionated topological graphs by combining Fig. 5(b) with itself

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Journal of Mechanical Design

Six fractionated topological graphs by combining Figs. 5(b) with 5(a)

Three fractionated topological graphs by combining Fig. 5(a) with itself

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Fig. 9 Excerpt of the 71 fractionated topological graphs

in VAbj (where i 1, 2,, q1 and j 1, 2,, q2), and the total

number is
TN

q1 X
q2
X

q1
q2
X

 X
jVAai jVAbj 
jVAai j 
jVAbi j

i1 j1

i1

(19)

i1

For example, by combining 4-link 1-DOF kinematic chain with

sixteen 8-link 1-DOF kinematic chains, altogether 71 fractionated
topological graphs of 11-link 2-DOF kinematic chains can be
obtained. An excerpt of the 71 fractionated topological graphs is
shown in Fig. 9.
In this way, the whole atlas database of fractionated 2-DOF kinematic chains can be established. Table 4 shows the number information of topological graphs of fractionated 2-DOF kinematic
chains up to 15 links. For example, altogether 86 fractionated 11link 2-DOF are synthesized, which consist of two parts: (1) 71
fractionated topological graphs are synthesized through the comTable 4 Number of topological graphs of 2-DOF fractionated
kinematic chains
Number of
links

Comibinations
of 1-DOF chains

4-link with 4-link

4-link with 6-link

11

4-link with 8-link

6-link with 6-link

71
15

86

13

4-link with 10-link

6-link with 8-link
4-link with 12-link
6-link with 10-link
8-link with 8-link

1834
355
75397
9170
2556

2189

15

Number of fractionated
topological graphs

031006-8 / Vol. 134, MARCH 2012

Total
1

87123

bination of 4-link kinematic chain with 8-link 1-DOF kinematic

chains; (2) 15 fractionated topological graphs are synthesized
through the combination of two 6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains.

Creative Design Based on Atlas Database

5.1 Design Constraints. If the complete atlas database of

N-link F-DOF kinematic chains (including the nonfractionated
structures and the fractionated ones) is established, the creative
design of mechanisms for a given design task is the selection of
appropriate topological structures of mechanisms from the complete atlas database based on the proposed design constraints.
Design constraints usually include the number of links and DOFs
of mechanisms, the type of the frame, the type of the output
link(s), drive and its type selection, etc. Different design constraints lead to different design results.
For example, if one seeks to find all feasible mechanisms for
11-link 2-DOF rode tractors, the following five design constraints
can be given:
(1) The numbers of links for the required mechanisms is 11
and the DOF of the mechanism is two.
(2) The topological structure of all candidate mechanisms
should be similar to the one in Fig. 1, i.e., the graphs should
be fractionated and resulting from the combination of two
6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains.
(3) The fixed frame is a multiple-pair link and is connected
with the fractionated link.
(4) The output link is a binary link and is also connected with
the fractionated link.
(5) The feasible mechanisms are fully hydraulic driven.
5.2 Results of Creative Design. By the first two design constraints, all the required topological graphs can be obtained from
the atlas database of 11-link 2-DOF fractionated kinematic chains
with the combination of two 6-link 1-DOF kinematic chains. The
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Fig. 10 The kinematic chains for the 15 topological graphs

kinematic chains for the 15 candidate topological graphs are

shown in Fig. 10. By the third design constraint, the chain of Fig.
10(a) is ruled out as it has no appropriate frame. By the fourth
design constraint, the chain of Fig. 10(f) is ruled out as it has no
appropriate output link. By the fifth design constraint, the chains
of Figs. 10(b), 10(d), 10(e), 10(i), and 10(j) are ruled out as no
appropriate driving pairs can be found.
From the remaining kinematic chains, altogether nine feasible
mechanisms of 11-link 2-DOF rode tractors are obtained (including the mechanism in Fig. 1(b)). The other eight mechanisms
shown in Fig. 11 are novel and published here for the first time.
The two prismatic pairs of each mechanism in Fig. 11 are driven
by two hydraulic cylinders. For example, in Fig. 10(c) either of
the topology symmetrical link 7 or 10 can be selected as the
frame. Also, either of the topology symmetrical link 5 or 6 can be
selected as the output link. Both serial chains constituted by links
2 and 3, and links 8 and 9 are converted into two hydraulic cylinders as the driving pairs. The kinematic sketch of the obtained
mechanism from Fig. 10(c) is shown in Fig. 11(a).

Fig. 11 Other eight feasible mechanisms of 11-link 2-DOF rode

tractors

Journal of Mechanical Design

Conclusions

In this paper, a systematic method is proposed for obtaining

all feasible kinematic structures of mechanisms for a specified
design task, and for using this database for the creative design
of mechanisms. The creative design procedure is illustrated for
the example of deriving all feasible structures for an 11-link
2-DOF rode tractor. The complete atlas database of 2-DOF
kinematic chains is established through two steps: (1) all nonfractionated kinematic chains are synthesized via their contracted graphs and (2) all fractionated kinematic chains are
synthesized by means of combination of corresponding 1-DOF
kinematic chains. All the topological graphs are classified in the
atlas database and the topological structures are displayed in
graph forms, so designers have a visual understanding of available kinematic structures. Based on the atlas database, the creation design of all feasible mechanisms for 11-link 2-DOF rode
tractors is conducted.
Compared with previous methods by adopting the concept of
the contracted graph in graph theory, by the method in the present
paper, topological graphs of up to 15 links are synthesized for the
first time.
Moreover, the creative design based on the complete atlas database is intuitive, making it possible to assess all possible kinematic structures of mechanisms within the creative design for a
specific task. The best design can then be selected from the
obtained results with some rules needed to be studied further.

Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to the project (No. 50905155) supported by NSFC, the Hebei Nature Science Foundation (No.
E2010001266), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of
Higher Education (No. 20091333120006), the Programme of
Excellent Young Scientists of the Higher colleges of Hebei province (No. CPRC017), and the support of the first author by the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

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