Abstract
This study deals with a calculation method for the forward kinematics of a 3 DOF parallel link manipulator. As a method for such a calculation, up to the present, the Newton method, or Newton-Raphson method alternatively, has been generally used. Nevertheless, this method is difficult to apply to on-line control systems, since it requires significant computation time and a large capacity of computer memory for calculations. In this study, therefore, a new algorithm for calculating forward kinematics is proposed. Fundamentally, the algorithm consists of two processes. The first is to calculate in a very short time an approximate solution of the kinematics. The second is to compensate the approximate solution in order to obtain the accurate one. It was confirmed that the computation time for the new algorithm was decreased to as little as 1/69-1/81 that for the Newton method. It was also confirmed experimentally that the algorithm was successfully applicable to an on-line control system.
