Title: A new hybrid machine design for a 6 DOF industrial robot arm

Authors: Ahmed Asif Shaik; Nkgatho S. Tlale; Glen Bright

Addresses: Mechatronics and Micro-Manufacturing, Department of Material Science and Manufacturing, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa. ' Modelling and Digital Sciences, Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Pretoria, South Africa. ' Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa

Abstract: Industrial robot arms are an essential part of automated manufacturing. They automate tasks such as component assembly, welding, light machining and spray painting due to their repeatability, speed and accuracy. The serial industrial robot arm architecture is the most ubiquitous in modern day manufacturing as its technology is mature; the machine architecture provides extreme dexterity and it has a large useful workspace. This architecture however does have some problems; first the machine mass distribution is not efficient as that mass is spread throughout the arm, and the arm itself contains significant inertia, which also leads to some inaccuracy and dynamic vibration problems. The reason for this lies in the location of the motors. This paper focuses on the conceptual design of a novel robotic arm having a hybrid nature, as its architecture departs from both the classic definitions of Serial Kinematics Machines (SKMs) and Parallel Kinematics Machines (PKMs).

Keywords: parallel kinematics; serial kinematics; hybrid machine design; 6 DOF robots; conceptual design; robot arms; robot design; robot kinematics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISTA.2012.046544

International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications, 2012 Vol.11 No.1/2, pp.63 - 80

Received: 03 Sep 2011
Accepted: 30 Nov 2011
Published online: 23 Apr 2012 *

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