Kinematic Analysis of a Dual Mode Parallel Manipulator

This paper deals with the kinematic modelling of a dual mode parallel mechanism. In one of its operating modes, the mechanism has a rotational and a translational degree of freedom. The translational degree of freedom of the manipulator is about an axis perpendicular to the base for both of the modes. The rotational motion of the two modes are orthogonal to each other and lies in a plane normal to the translational axis. The modes of the mechanism are of 1 TIR motion pattern. A screw theory-based mobility analysis has been carried out to estimate the degrees of freedom for the two operating modes as well as at the crossover configuration. The work also deals with the inverse kinematics, workspace analysis for the two operating modes and the formulation of unit-homogeneous Jacobian of the mechanism.