The effect of radius of joint location on workspace analysis of the 6-6 Stewart Platform Mechanism

In recent years, Stewart Platform Mechanism has been utilized extensively in applications which are vibration control and aligning optics of astronomical telescopes, satellite dish positioning, flight simulators, and so on requiring high precision, loading capacity, accuracy, rigidity and high velocity. However, the limited workspace, complex kinematic / kinetic solutions and singularities inside the workspace are the most important problems encountered with regard to this type of mechanisms. There are some parameters which affect significantly the workspace of Stewart Platform Mechanism. Some of these parameters are leg lengths, joint location angles and radius of joint location. Within this study, the effect of the radius of joint location of both moving platform and fixed platform on the workspace is investigated by calculating workspaces and comparing results for different radii of joint locations utilizing inverse kinematics technique.