Conceptual Design of Hybrid Thrustered Cable-Suspended Parallel Robots

This paper presents an innovative design of 6-degree-of-freedom hybrid thrustered cable-suspended parallel robots, merging the attributes of a cable-suspended parallel robots with propeller thrusters. This hybridization aims to overcome the limitations inherent in conventional cable-suspended parallel robots, which depend significantly on the mass of the end-effector for maintaining cable tension. Traditional cable-suspended parallel robots face a significant challenge: a lightweight end-effector limits the workspace. This limitation occurs because certain required poses cause the cable tension to drop below a critical minimum threshold, rendering the cables uncontrollable and thus making these poses infeasible. Conversely, employing a heavier end-effector compromises both acceleration and safety. The proposed approach gives a design that equips an end-effector with propeller thrusters, introducing additional driving forces and moments to enhance the system’s overall performance. Conceptual design is introduced, alongside a general model and a specific example with static equilibrium models analyzed, demonstrating that the application of propeller thrusters effectively resolves this challenge.