Optimal Reconfiguration of a Limited Parallel Robot for Forward Singularities Avoidance

[EN] The positioning of the anchoring points of a Parallel Kinematic Manipulator has an important impact on its later performance. This paper presents an optimization problem to deal with the reconfiguration of a Parallel Kinematic manipulator with four degrees of freedom and the corresponding algorithms to address such problem, with the subsequent test on an actual robot. The cost function minimizes the forces applied by the actuators along the trajectory and considers singular positions and the feasibility of the active generalized coordinates. Results are compared among different algorithms, including evolutionary, heuristics, multi-strategy and gradient-based optimizers. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports through the Project for Research and Technological Development with Ref. DPI2017-84201-R Llopis-Albert, C.; Valero, F.; Mata, V.; Escarabajal, RJ.; Zamora-Ortiz, P.; Pulloquinga, JL. (2020). Optimal Reconfiguration of a Limited Parallel Robot for Forward Singularities Avoidance. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 7(1):113-127. https://doi.org/10.4995/muse.2020.13352 Arakelian, V., Briot, S., & Glazunov, V. (2008). Increase of singularity-free zones in the workspace of parallel manipulators using mechanisms of variable structure. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 43(9), 1129-1140. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MECHMACHTHEORY.2007.09.005 Araujo-Gómez, P., Díaz-Rodríguez, M., Mata, V., & González-Estrada, O. A. (2019). Kinematic analysis and dimensional optimization of a 2R2T parallel manipulator. Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 41(10), 425. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-019-1934-1 Araujo-Gómez, P., Mata, V., Díaz-Rodríguez, M., Valera, A., & Page, A. (2017). Design and kinematic analysis of a novel 3UPS/RPU parallel kinematic mechanism with 2T2R motion for knee diagnosis and rehabilitation tasks. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 9(6), 061004. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4037800 Beiranvand, V., Hare, W., & Lucet, Y. (2017). Best practices for comparing optimization algorithms. Optimization and Engineering, 18(4), 815-848. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11081-017-9366-1 Dash, A. K., Chen, I. M., Yeo, S. H., & Yang, G. (2005). Workspace generation and planning singularity-free path for parallel manipulators. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 40(7), 776-805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2005.01.001 Gosselin, C., & Angeles, J. (1990). S