Session: MR-07-04: Novel Mechanisms, Robots, & Applications

Paper Number: 194732

194732 - A Manipulator Driven by Geared Five-Bar Modules With Multiple Operation Modes 

The majority of active joints in conventional manipulators are either revolute or prismatic. This implicit constraint limits the kinematic properties of robot manipulators. To address this limitation, the present study focuses on geared linkage mechanisms and introduces the concept of employing them as active joints. The high trajectory-generation capability of geared linkage mechanisms is expected to broaden the kinematic properties of manipulators. Additionally, integrating a gear-based mechanism for switching power transmission paths can provide advantages in terms of reconfigurability. Based on this concept, a 1-DOF (degree of freedom) geared five-bar module with three operation modes (same-phase, opposite-phase, and four-bar modes) is proposed. The module is constructed by interconnecting two revolute joints of a five-bar linkage using gears and incorporates a mode-switching mechanism. The motion of the module depends not only on the operation modes themselves, but also on when they are switched. Furthermore, a 2-DOF manipulator driven by two geared five-bar modules is proposed. The fundamental equations required for the kinematic analysis of the module and the manipulator, including direct and inverse kinematics and the Jacobian matrix, were derived. The aforementioned advantages were verified through kinematic analyses. In addition to computer-based analyses, a physical prototype of the manipulator was developed. These results confirm that a manipulator based on the proposed concept can be realized as a physical system.

Presenting Author: Keisuke Arikawa Kanagawa Institute of Technology

Presenting Author Biography: Keisuke Arikawa received the BEng(1993), MEng(1995), and DrEng(2000) degrees from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. He was a Research Fellow of JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) for the period 2000-2001. Currently, he is a professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering of Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Kanagawa, Japan. His research interests include analysis and synthesis of multi-DOF mechanisms, mechanical design of mobile robots, and protein kinematics.