The kinematics of robotic bevel-gear trains

A systematic approach has been developed for the kinematic analysis of multi-degree-of-freedom robotic bevel-gear trains. The approach is based on the idea that the motion of the end-effector can be described by an equivalent open-loop chain and that the relative rotations between every two adjacent links in the equivalent open-loop chain can be derived from a set of fundamental circuit equations. The theory is demonstrated by the kinematic analysis of a robotic wrist.