Optimal Design of a Reconfigurable End-Effector for Cable-Suspended Parallel Robots

In this paper, a new cable-suspended parallel robot (CSPR) with reconfigurable end-effector is presented. The system has been conceived for pick and place operations in industrial environments where the ability to avoid obstacles and to maximize the performance are the main requirements. The proposed system has the capability of dynamically modifying the configuration of the cable anchor points on the end-effector to avoid collisions with obstacles in the approaching/departing phases, while reducing the movement time in the rest of the trajectory. Kinematic and dynamic models of the reconfigurable CSPR are derived and an optimal design of the end-effector is presented. The optimization aims at minimizing the force required by the linear actuator to modify the position of the cable anchor points during a pick and place task. The results reveal the predominant effect of the end-effector mass distribution on the force exerted by the linear actuator.