Optimal design, simulation and experimental tests of an 5R PKM manipulator

The design of an automatic system requires a synergistic collaboration between several disciplinary areas, involving know-how and expertise in mechanical, electrical and technical fields. A robot is a complex automatic system, which carries on more than the common features of a simple machine, since it is usually designed to accomplish tasks which are not known during the design phase. This paper deepens the design of a five-bar parallel manipulator with two degrees of freedom highlighting the multidisciplinary approach used in its development. Starting from the machine requirements, the process of kinematic optimization, the structural design phase, the dynamic analysis and the sizing of the driving systems are deeply described. Finally the designed PKM is realized and tested, comparing experimental results with those obtained from numerical analysis.