Workspace Analysis and Going through Singularities of 5-Bar Symmetric Planar Parallel Manipulator by Automated Selective Actuation Mechanism

In this article‚ a new approach is presented to determine the various shapes of workspaces of 5 bar symmetric planar parallel manipulators. Here the shape of the workspace is determined by the number of ways the workspaces of the two serial manipulators intersect with each other. Geometric conditions are established in each case and area of each shape of workspace is determined in closed form. Singularity is another important consideration in the design of parallel manipulators. In this paper, an approach is presented to go through the singularity points using an automatic selective actuation mechanism. A prototype 5-bar planar manipulator is fabricated along with an automatic selective actuation mechanism demonstrating the manipulator going through the singularity points.