Towards a fully-parallel 6 DOF robot for high-speed applications

Two parallel robots are presented. The first is a three-degree-of-freedom lightweight robot called DELTA. The equations corresponding to different models of this robot (forward and inverse kinematics as well as inverse dynamics) are given. The important feature of the method used in deriving these models is the use of a `good´ set of parameters to simplify the equations. These models have been employed to control a real DELTA with a low-cost controller. An attempt was also made to extend the principle of the DELTA mechanical structure to a six-degree-of-freedom parallel robot. A design called the HEXA has been developed. The authors present this robot and show that it should have the same dynamic capabilities as the DELTA because, like the later, it can be built with light material and can be easily modeled