Design and Analysis of a Torque-Compensated Spatial 3-DOF Manipulator

The energy consumption of a robot is one of the major issues in today’s industry. Robotics emerges as a promising domain for manufacturers endeavoring to tackle this challenge. This paper introduces a novel torque-compensated spatial three degrees of freedom manipulator. In the design concept of the manipulator, the well-known geometric properties of the Scott-Russell straight-line linkage are employed. First, its kinematics ans statics are discussed. Then, the conditions of the optimal redistribution of moving links’ masses are disclosed. It is notable that in the proposed solution, the common center of mass of the manipulator is not fixed but moves in a straight line. This approach can be considered more efficient, as it results in a lesser increase in mass compared to traditional static balancing methods. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design methodology, simulations were carried out using ADAMS software.