Dynamic Launch Trajectory Planning of a Cable-Suspended Translational Parallel Robot Using Point-to-Point Motions

In the last decade, cable-suspended parallel robots have attracted significant interest due to their large workspaces and high dynamic performances. However, a significant drawback is that cables must always be in tension to control the motion. Using launch motions to reach a target can enlarge the workspace of such robots. For a spatial translational cable robot suspended by six pairwise-parallel cables, an analytical method for planning point-to-point dynamic trajectories is proposed. Using a second-order Bezier curve trajectory, the mechanism starts from a static condition, passes through intermediate points, and finally launches an object towards a target. According to the kinematic constraint conditions on the position, the velocity and acceleration of the end-effector at a prescribed point, the parametric expressions for a dynamically-feasible trajectory can be determined. The feasibility of the trajectory is analyzed under the constraint that cable tensions must be positive at all times. By changing the position of the end point of the trajectory and the total motion time, the kinematic conditions on the position and velocity as well as the feasibility constraint can be satisfied. Finally, our point-to-point dynamic launch trajectories are verified by simulations and experiments.