Dimensional synthesis of a 5-DOF parallel kinematic manipulator for a 3d printer

Additive manufacturing is a growing method for the industrial production. New methods have been developed and in particularly methods for the production of metal parts to a minimum cost. Innovative approach is the use of a MIM technique for 3D printing which requires a suitable kinematics for its movements. The main purpose of this article is the kinematic optimization of a 5Dofs PKM robot for additive manufacturing. It's been studied the kinematics of the robot and used a genetic algorithm to optimize the parameters of the machine in order to cover a specified workspace, furthermore design of the robot and outline of the control system are given.