A novel CAD system for modular reconfigurable parallel robots

This paper presents a new method of employing unified modulus to reconfigure 3 to 6 DOF symmetrical and asymmetrical planar parallel manipulators, in-parallel actuated pyramid manipulators, spherical parallel manipulators and platform parallel manipulators. Firstly, a basic theory of modularization classification of parallel robots is put forward. Then, under this theory, a host of modules are established. Finally, based on the environment of Solidworks and Visual Basic, a CAD system is developed to realize automatic assembly and analysis of different kinds of modular reconfigurable parallel robots. Practice shows this design idea is feasible and effective; it also has certain instructive effect on the modular design of other mechanisms.