Design of a Parallel Mechanism Platform for Simulating Six Degrees-of-freedom General Motion Including Continuous 360-degree Spin

This paper presents a new six degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism platform, which can be used as a basis for general motion simulators. The unique feature of the platform is that it enables unlimited continuous 360-degree spin in any rotational axes plus finite X, Y, and Z-axis translation motion. The first part of the paper deals with the kinematic design issue of the platform including singularity avoidance problems. The second part describes the design and development issues of the working sample structure. It has been assembled and tested successfully to verify the original idea of general motion simulators. For demonstration purposes, the real motions of the platform are synchronized with those of the real roller coaster in operation, whose path contains several overturning pitching and rolling loops.