An Improved Harmony Search Algorithm for a Planar Parallel Robot Synthesis

The objective of kinematic synthesis is to determine the mechanism dimensions such as link lengths, positions or joint coordinates, in order to approximate its output parameters such as link positions, trajectory points, and displacement angles. Kinematic synthesis is classified into three categories: function generation, path generation, and motion generation. This paper is dedicated only to path generation. As the number of trajectory points increases, analytical methods are limited to obtain precisely mechanism solutions. In that case, numerical methods are more efficient to solve such problems. Our study proposes an improved heuristic algorithm applied to four-bar mechanism path-generation. The objective of this work is to find optimum dimensions of the mechanism and minimize the error between the generated trajectory and the desired one, taking into consideration constraints such as: Grashof condition, transmission angle, and design variables constraints. Finally, our results are compared with those found by other evolutionary algorithms in the literature.