Kinematics of parallel-series position and pose adjustment mechanism for automated docking system of replenishment at sea

For the complex inter-relationship between the floating bodies relative position and pose in the oil supplies system, a stepwise automated docking system is proposed in this paper. The forward kinematics and inverse kinematics model mechanism for parallel-series position and pose adjustment are developed to perform the numerical simulation. The simulation results show that the mechanism for parallel-series position and pose adjustment has a relatively large workspace. When the manipulator is in an extreme position, it also has a certain adjustment capacity to adjust its pose, and it may change its joint variables with the target captured changing, so that the joints powered can search a suitable docking state. So it means that the automated docking system is practicable.