Simplified dynamic modelling and improvement of a four-degree-of-freedom pick-and-place manipulator with articulated moving platform

This paper deals with high-speed robots for pick-and-place applications with a high rate of output. After mentioning the families of robot architectures that meet the specifications of pick-and-place, parallel kinematics architectures with articulated moving platform are introduced and described. Indeed, this concept seems very promising for this kind of application. After presenting the reasons to select the P<span style="font-variant: small-caps">ar</span>4 architecture, it is fully described and modelled: position relationships, velocity relationships, and simplified dynamic model. Experimental results from extensive testing show a high performance potentiality. By analysing the experimental results, an improvement is proposed to have a better dynamic balance among the actuators. The improved version of the robot is the one chosen for the industrial development of the Q<span style="font-variant: small-caps">uattro</span> parallel robot.