Forward kinematics of a macro-micro parallel manipulator

In this paper the kinematic analysis of a macro-micro parallel manipulator is studied in detail. The manipulator architecture is a simplified planar version adopted from the structure of large adaptive reflector (LAR), the Canadian design of next generation giant radio telescopes. This structure is composed of two parallel and redundantly actuated manipulators at macro and micro level, which both are cable-driven. Inverse and forward kinematic analysis of this structure is presented in this paper. It is shown that unique closed form solution to the inverse kinematic problem of such structure exists. However, the forward kinematic solution is derived using numerical methods, and simulation results are reported to illustrate the integrity and accuracy of the solution.