Study of 6-DOF Cable Robots for Potential Application of HIL Microgravity Contact-Dynamics Simulation

Application of Linear Model Predictive Control and Input-Output Linearization to Constrained Control of 3D Cable Robots

“…Therefore, the dynamics of the links can be ignored which will significantly simplify the dynamic model of the manipulator. One can derive the Newton-Euler equations of motion of the manipulator with respect to the center of mass on the platform as follows [10]…”

“…shows the dimensions of the cable robot. We consider a definite movement of the platform from X 0 = 2,.001,-0.001] T to X = [0.2sin(t), 0.4 03t 3 ,0,0,0] T , on a desired trajectory of Equaqion (10), R = I, Q = I, S = 0.01I, and Q s of Equation (15), Q s = I.…”

“…Cable robots posses a number of desirable characteristics, including: 1) stationary heavy components and few moving parts, resulting in low inertial properties and high payload-to-weight ratios; 2) incomparable motion range, much higher than that obtained by conventional serial or parallel robots; 3) cables have negligible inertia and are suitable for high acceleration applications; 4) transportability and ease of disassembly/reassembly; 5) reconfigurability by simply relocating the motors and updating the control system accordingly; and, 6) economical construction and maintenance due to few moving parts and relatively simple components [6,7]. Consequently, cable robots are exceptionally well suited for many applications such as handling of heavy materials, inspection and repair in shipyards and airplane hangars, high-speed manipulation, rapidly deployable rescue robots, cleanup of disaster areas, and access to remote locations and interaction with hazardous environments [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. For these applications conventional serial or parallel robots are impractical due to their limited workspace.…”

Design and analysis of an active gimbal simulator with three degrees-of-freedom for ground testing

“…To reconstruct the translational and rotational motions of the satellites and spacecraft in outer space on the ground, the micro-G environment and full degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) are required. Various methods have been proposed such as parabolic flight, 5 neutral buoyancy, 6,7 air-bearing, 8,9 hardwarein-the-loop, 10,11 and suspension systems. 3,4 The parabolic flight method 5 uses an aircraft to simulate the parabolic motion and is the standard of fidelity.…”

“…The use of airbearing technology 8,9 is presently a popular approach; however, systems based on the method are usually complicated and of high cost. The hardware-inthe-loop 10,11 technology based on 6-DOF robots has been recently developed. This approach relies on manipulators to hold the mass center of the test satellite and can provide the 6-DOF active motion of satellites or space robots; an example of this approach is NASA's space shuttle docking simulator.…”