Kinematic Reliability of Manipulators Subjected to Clearances Using an Interval Approach

This paper proposes a novel method based on an interval approach to evaluate the kinematic reliability of manipulators. Kinematic reliability measures the possibility of positioning errors within admissible bounds. Consequently, the reliability assesses the possibility that the interval end-effector error produced by the joint clearances exceeds an admissible rate. There is proposed reliability index based on the interval error conveys an alternative approach to the kinematic reliability methods based on probabilistic frameworks reported in the literature. The paper’s numerical results demonstrate the viability of the proposed methodology.