On the simplifications of cable model in static analysis of large-dimension cable-driven parallel robots

This paper addresses the simplification of cable model in static analysis of large-dimension cable-driven parallel robots (CDPR). An approach to derive a simplified hefty cable model is presented. The approach provides an insight into the limitation of such a simplification. The resulting cable tension computation is then used to solve the inverse kinematic problem of CDPR. A new expression of cable length taking into account both the non-negligible cable mass and elasticity is also introduced. Finally, simulations and experiments on a large CDPR prototype are provided. The results show that taking into account both cable mass and elasticity improves the robot accuracy.