Computation and Experimental Validation of the Reachable Workspace of a 6-6 Stewart Platform Manipulator

The workspace of a Stewart platform manipulator is obtained as an intersection of the workspaces of the individual SPS linkages connecting the fixed base to the moving platform. The workspace thus has a complicated geometric shape. In this paper, a semi-analytical approach is used to identify the reachable workspace of a semi-regular Stewart platform manipulator, considering the physical actuator limits for a given range of orientations of the moving platform. A convex description of the workspace is obtained in the form of the largest sphere which is centred at a chosen location and is fully contained inside the workspace. The dimension of the sphere is subsequently validated experimentally using a desktop prototype of the manipulator.