A novel high speed 2-DOF translational parallel robot for pick-and-place operations

A novel high speed two DOF (degree of freedom) parallel translating robot for pick-and-place operations is presented in this paper. Firstly, a new passive mechanism which can translate freely along a circular path is presented based on the singularity configuration of the 3-UPU (universal-prismatic-universal) parallel manipulator. And the novel two degree of freedom parallel translating robot whose orientation can remain constant is put forward by the new passive mechanism. Then the kinematics of the two degree of freedom parallel translating robot is studied. Closed form solutions are developed for the inverse kinematics. The Jacobin matrix of the two degree of freedom parallel translating robot is also derived. Finally, the application of this robot to the development of a device for transporting work pieces at very high speed in a plane together with a relatively slow or step-by-step long distance motion in the direction normal to that plane is used to demonstrate its applicability.