Kinematic calibration of parallel robots for docking mechanism motion simulation

A new method for calibrating a parallel robot is proposed as part of a project aimed at developing a calibration method for spacecraft docking mechanism motion simulator. To implement this method, a calibration equation is built by generating the constraint conditions of the end-effector's motion in the workspace using a three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine. According to the established calibration equation and the simulation, the geometrical parameters of the parallel robot are identified. The effectiveness of the calibration method with a coordinate measuring machine is verified through random pose test experiment.