This paper investigates the feasibility of using a gravity-assisted underactuated cable-driven robot to transport a handheld microphone across a conference hall. The proposed system employs four ceiling-mounted winch actuators connected to a lightweight platform, enabling three-dimensional motion within the hall while keeping all actuators and moving parts away from the audience. To assess whether such a system can support safe and practical microphone delivery, we develop a simplified kinematic and dynamic model that includes inverse kinematics for cable direction computation, a minimum-norm static tension formulation, and a dynamic tension model based on platform acceleration along a predefined trajectory. The end-effector is modeled as a point mass and only translational motion is considered, while orientation is assumed to be passively stabilized by gravity. A representative conference-hall geometry is considered, including both flat and inclined seating configurations. A smoothed point-to-point path is generated to reflect realistic microphone delivery motions, and the resulting cable tensions are evaluated through numerical simulation in MATLAB. The simulation allows identification of regions where the cable configuration becomes sensitive to motion-induced forces or where individual cables approach zero tension. These findings illustrate the key challenges of operating an underactuated cable-driven system in a collaborative, human-centered environment and provide a foundation for future work involving trajectory optimization, active tension control, and experimental validation.

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Underactuated Gravity-Assisted Cable Robot for Microphone Transportation

  • Mykhailo Riabtsev,
  • Med Amine Laribi,
  • Victor Petuya

摘要

This paper investigates the feasibility of using a gravity-assisted underactuated cable-driven robot to transport a handheld microphone across a conference hall. The proposed system employs four ceiling-mounted winch actuators connected to a lightweight platform, enabling three-dimensional motion within the hall while keeping all actuators and moving parts away from the audience. To assess whether such a system can support safe and practical microphone delivery, we develop a simplified kinematic and dynamic model that includes inverse kinematics for cable direction computation, a minimum-norm static tension formulation, and a dynamic tension model based on platform acceleration along a predefined trajectory. The end-effector is modeled as a point mass and only translational motion is considered, while orientation is assumed to be passively stabilized by gravity. A representative conference-hall geometry is considered, including both flat and inclined seating configurations. A smoothed point-to-point path is generated to reflect realistic microphone delivery motions, and the resulting cable tensions are evaluated through numerical simulation in MATLAB. The simulation allows identification of regions where the cable configuration becomes sensitive to motion-induced forces or where individual cables approach zero tension. These findings illustrate the key challenges of operating an underactuated cable-driven system in a collaborative, human-centered environment and provide a foundation for future work involving trajectory optimization, active tension control, and experimental validation.