Literature Survey

Introduction
In order to become familiar with background, a literature survey was conducted. From this survey, previous work was studied carefully. It was concluded from Literature survey that a lot of work is done in this field, and a number of research papers are available to describe the kinematics and dynamics of the parallel mechanism. In this study, a structure is introduced which consists of two rigid bodies. Both bodies are held in relative motion to each other by means of six actuators. The end points of these actuators are attached to the bodies via universal joints. The position and orientation of the mobile platform varies depending on the lengths to which six legs are adjusted. The mechanism can be used to position the platform in six degrees of freedom( three rotational and three translational).Such a mechanical design is referred to as Stewart-Gough Platform (Stewart-1956; Gough -1965) in the literature, and is also known as parallel robots. The Stewart platform is a classic of a mechanical design that is used for position control. The mechanical design of parallel robots requires the application of engineering expertise in a variety of areas. Important disciplines include mechanism design structure design and electrical engineering. Studies of different scientists are discussed below: 1. Willard L.V Pollard (1940) invented a new parallel robot for automated spray painting. This ingenious invention represents a fiveDOF three branched parallel robot. In this parallel robot, three proximal arms are pivoted by rotary motors fixed to the base; three distal arms are connected to the three proximal arms via universal joints. Two of the dismal arms are connected to third via ball joints, while a tool head is connected to the third dismal arm via universal joint. Thus , three motors are determine the position of the tools head, while its orientation is controlled by two other motors fixed at the base and transmitting the motion to the tool head via flexible rotary cables. 2. Eric Gough (1950) built the first octahedral hexapod, the universal tiretesting machine, or the universal rig. The machine was invented in order to respond to problems of aero-landing loads and to determine the properties of tires under combined loads. The new thing about the Gough platform was arrangement of the six struts. Since Eric Gough

needed relatively large ranges of motion, he naturally selected the symmetrical arrangement forming an octahedron. The machine was built in the early 1950s and was fully operational in 1954. 3. Stewarts (1965) famous paper appeared in the proceedings of the British IMechE. In the paper, Mr. Stewart described a 6 DOF motion platform for the use of a flight simulator. There is no doubt that Stewarts excellent paper has a great impact on the subsequent development in the field of parallel kinematics. Various suggestions for the use of the hexapod were made.

4. Klaus Cappel (1971) patented his invention for the use of motion simulator. Mr. Cappel was unaware of the Goughs tire testing machine and Stewarts paper which was not yet published. Cappels improved an existing conventional 6-DOF vibration system based on hexapod. He designed the system with seven-strut configuration. The mechanism was too complex to control and the resulting forces eventually fractured the table. It is by observing that Mr. Cappel came up with the same octahedral arrangement as the one proposed by Dr. Gough. 5. Liu K (1993) proposed a numerical algorithm which provided the kinematics solutions based on a set of three nonlinear simultaneous equations. He developed Lagrangian equations of motion under some simplifying assumptions regarding the geometry and inertia distribution of the manipulator.

6. Manfred Husty (1996) found an analytical method for calculating the 40 solutions to the direct kinematics problem of hexapod. Husty adopted the concept of representation of the rigid body displacement by eight homogeneous coordinates satisfying two quadratic constraints. Both formulate the problem in the form of an intersection problem of eight quadratic manifolds in an eight dimensional (8D) space and reduce it to a unvaried polynomial equation establishing conclusively the upper bound of possible configurations for a completely general structure of the Stewart platform to be 40.

7. Jean Pierre Merlet (1997), is the first author of the first book on parallel robots, there might be very few others designers of parallel kinematics systems that have even glanced upon these ancient texts. Compared to the vast literature on the kinematics of the Stewart platform, studies its dynamics are relatively few. The earliest discussions can be found in Fictchter (1986) and Merlet (1987) which are applicable if leg inertia and joint friction are negligible 8. Sugimoto (1989) considered the inverse dynamics problem of the Stewart platform as an illustration of dynamic analysis of parallel manipulators through elimination of joint reactions. The detailed derivation of the dynamic terms was, however, omitted in his analysis. 9. Do and Yang (1988) soled the inverse dynamics for the Stewart platform by the Newton-Euler approach assuming the joints as frictionless and legs as asymmetrical (i-e the centre of gravity lies on its axis and axial movement of inertia is negligible) For the Stewart platform with a complete general architecture and inertial distribution Dasgupta and Mruthyunjaya(2000) developed a complete formulation for the inverse dynamic problem through Newton Euler approach resulting in a computationally efficient algorithm which was shown to be well suited for parallel computation.

APPLICATIONS OF THE HEXAPOD: I- Flight Simulators: After the start of the space era in the early sixties of this century, simulation of actual conditions passed by pilots either on planes or space shuttles became a must in order to give the pilots an adequate and necessary training. This is because planes and space shuttles are considered to be "expensive". Not only that, but also because the life of the pilot is equally expensive as the vehicle. The aim of flight simulators is to simulate man/vehicle interaction, through measurement of the pilot readiness and performance and putting a scale for his maneuvering. The simulator is an actual cockpit mounted on a hexapod. The hexapod is of the "six axis positioner" type, with six hydraulic struts and 12 universal joints distributed on both the base and the platform, which is the cockpit in this case. Such a simulator can be easily modified to simulate a wide range of both groundbased and flight vehicles. Through computer system, the simulator gives a quantitative evaluation for the pilot. From a medical view point, the existence of

the body in a 6 DOF system will produce precise simulation on the body's visual and tactile sensors. In other words, the biological effects on the inner ear, and kinesthetic organs ,body's muscle and skin tissue, which are used by humans to sense motion in all directions. According to McFadden, a company specialized in this type of flight simulators, the benefits of a 6 DOF system on simulation are: Enhances realism of the experience Increases rider acceptance of simulation Virtually eliminates motion sickness Improves synchronization of visual and motion information cues Able to accommodate more realistic and panoramic visual displays II- PRECISION MACHINING: With the growing interest in quality of produced parts, a new generation of machines that combine high speed, accuracy, stiffness, and multi-axial capabilities started to appear. The basic design of these structures is based on the conventional Stewart Platform. In this case, the machining tool is carried on the platform, hence having the ability to move six degrees of freedom. There are two possible designs. The first is the one that uses the telescopic struts, hence having universal joints at the end of the strut. The second design is with the ball and socket joint at the end of the strut. These designs have the following advantages: It allows free access to the work zone. There is nothing to impede the motion of the machining tool to the work piece. Unlike most industrial robots, the hexapod design provides stiffness beyond what the design shows. The struts act longitudinally on the platform, hence producing either tension or compression on it. The machine offers micron to sub-micron accuracy. This is because of the software package that is used to control the robot. Low friction at the joint, giving long life time for the robot. III- PRECISION SURGICAL ROBOTS: Since most medical disciplines, especially in the field of surgery, require high accuracy and controllable forces when working on human organs, the precision controllers were introduced to the field of medicine as well. Research on the use of hexapod positioners in this field is done by the support of Siemens Medical Engineering. The aim of this robot is to help the surgeon operate on a sub-micron accuracy. This is in order to increase safety in surgeries and prompt further improvement and give a chance for more complicated surgeries. The use of the robot with hexapod arms enables the high precision and high

forces to reach very complicated zones, mostly in the brain because the model was developed for neuro-surgery. Not only that, on the other side the surgeon will be sitting in the operating cockpit. This is described as the workspace of the future surgeon. The cockpit is mounted

on a hexapod platform so that the impression is transmitted to the surgeon for the endoscope going inside the patient. This helps the surgeon to control the tools and give him a feeling of the spatial orientation of the scalpel. As they say, they want the surgeon to "fly through the patient" ! Such a complicated technology is controlled by a computer simulation to avoid errors, where errors are not originally possible! Other Applications and Research: 1 - Fine Positing device for the mirrors of high resolution telescopes. 2 - Positioning of optics, electron guns, Lasers, and other energy resources.

THE ADVANTAGES The current paradigm in design and manufacturing involved integration of numerous hardware and sophisticated software in order to create An unique product of extremely high accuracy. The objective of this integrated product is to enhance quality and reliability, reduce the cost and overall cycle time, and increase flexibility. Hexapod is a dramatic departure from conventional mechanism design; it offers many new attributes for the most manufacturing processes. * Six degree of freedom The hexapod consists of six struts which expand and contact between the movable platform, which carries a spindle, and the fixed platform. Coordinated motion of these six struts enables the spindle to move in any direction. In addition to the traditional motion in orthogonal axes, X,Y, and Z, this device also is able to move in the rotary complements of pitch, yaw, and roll. This advantage allows the spindle to reach unusual angles and geometrical features. * High precision and accuracy In contrast to the conventional multi-axis positioning tools, the hexapod technique requires all six struts to alter their lengths if a change of the platform in only one axis is required. On the other hand, if only one strut alters its length, all

six coordinates (X, Y, Z, q, a, j ) will change. The twelve multi- degree-offreedom joints must assure precision and zero backlash. Unlike other multi-axis positioning devices, in which any change in one coordinate influences the position of the pivot point and the other coordinates, the hexapod can compensate itself automatically. Through the sophisticated software, the coordinate transformations and individual velocity /coordinate information are transmitted to each motor controller axis.

* Computer visualization tools Due to unconventional design of the hexapod, the control for the hexapod is through visualizations of the products and the processes by sophisticated software, which is needed to support extremely detailed visualization. This software package must have " zoom-through" ability; moreover, it should have the ability to scan the whole workplace through an individual multi-mode system. The advantages of applying such numerical visualization tools are copious. The actual hexapod will not need to be tied up, freeing it for the other tasks. Safety procedure will be eliminated. A profound set of visual motion data can be attained with minimum human labor; in other words, this will reduce the human interference and at the same time the human faults. * Graphic simulation and computer animation Using graphic simulation and animation of the downstream manufacturing process provides a map for the entire workplace envelope. Tool velocity and acceleration data will be registered for different locations in the workspace and for various speeds and accelerations of the ball- screw struts. Due to extraordinary kinematics of the hexapod it is predicted that characteristic motion at the tools reference frame will be highly dependent on the location in the workspace. Detailed kinematics map will be resolved from the obtained data, identifying regions of the greatest achievable tool velocity and acceleration and those of the lowest. This will give a clear perception of the optimal regions of the workspace for achieving that most use of different machining process. Ultimately this will promote the development of the hexapod in different manufacturing processes. * High stiffness Besides the various advantages stated above, the hexapod offers another important feature, which is the high stiffness and rigidity of its components and all moving parts, such as bearings and joints, and drive screws. This feature results in extraordinary high natural frequencies (500 Hz@10 kg load);consequently, this gives very high speed of cutting and the other maching objectives. In addition, high stiffness of the hexapods components will prevent

any bending effect in the six legs or in the platform, and that what makes the hexapod very advantageous. *High load/weight ratio The high nominal load/weight is a very important advantage of the hexapod. The weight of a load in the platform is approximately equally distributed on the six parallel links. That means each link just suffers only from 1/6 of the total weight. Furthermore, under certain load, the struts on the hexapod act longitudinally and therefore exerts either tension or compression on the struts in other words, no axial forces are applied. Consequently, there is no need to design it as massive as the conventional machines. * Variety in the size Rotary hexapods can be as small as soda can or as big as 3meters in diameter depending upon the objective of the machine. Comparing with the conventional multi-axis machines, the number of parts from which the hexapod is composed is one third fewer which means lighter weight and lower friction. * Hexapod is a soft machine According to Hexel Corporation, a leading company in hexapod development and production, the hexapod is "a soft machine ." However, that is not in reference to the machining centers stiffness, thrust, or the other traditional descriptions of the machine tool strength. Soft in the case of the hexapod means that the machines accuracy and repeatability are not dependent on its structural alignments. Hexel clarified that by saying , instead on relying on the ability of the skilled assemblers to scrape in way surfaces and other critical mating points to assure that the base, column, and other components are square and true, a hexapod does not require that kind of intensive assembly. Its 25- micron accuracy is derived from mathematical formulas that are the heart of the software that coordinates the relative motions of its six struts. He continued, repeatability of the hexapod design is about 10 microns, comes from its need to move a significantly lower amount of mass when machining. Only the spindle motor, cutting tool, and their carrier exert inertia and momentum beyond the servo motors themselves. * High production rate The hexapod can provide higher production rate in limited time. Since that needs continuous work processing capability, the hexapod design can accommodate a pallet shuttle system that can automatically move work pieces in and out of the work zone. That can be achieved by designing the machine to be above the worktable.

In essence, the hexapod design obviously has a great potential in revolutionizing a host of manufacturing processes. The merits of such machine are numerous. That providing improved accuracy , stiffness, speed, etc. As a multi processing system those merits will extend beyond individual processing improvements and into a system- oriented improvements in the manufacturing cell. Reduction in set-up and processing time, and consequently the overall cycle time is one of the most important benefits. High quality and readability will be easily attained through such advanced systems. LIMITATIONS AND SHORTCOMINGS As any new design, hexapod has turned up some problems some of them have been addressed, and some still need further developments and refinements. Friction Friction in the ball joints is a crucial problem for the hexapod. That the friction coefficient is about 0.8,and that is enough to exert some axial deflection on the struts that influences the accuracy and repeatability. Using a ceramic coating and special lubricant, the modified struts are down to 0.2 coefficient of friction Length of the struts The length of the struts affects the accuracy of the machine. When the length increases, the accuracy decreases dramatically (possibility of bending). This problem have been overcome by mapping each screw before installing in the machine. Dynamic thermal growth This problem has appeared also in the serial linkage mechanism. That with the increase in the speed of the spindle, there is a dramatic increase in the dynamic thermal growth. One way to overcome that hurdle is by monitoring the struts in real time employing one dimension finite element analysis that activates an automatic error compensation routine built into the software and based on the known growth rate of the struts. Calibration The accuracy of the parallel- mechanism is not only dependent upon an accurate control of the length of its links but also upon knowledge of its geometrical characteristics. According to the fabrication tolerances many factors will play a role in the final accuracy of the machine. Up to 132 parameters must be specified to describe the geometrical characteristics of the mechanism which seems to be very difficult to adjust all parameter. Therefore the calibration of the hexapod stills an open problem.

Appendix

An example for milling machine that uses one kind of hexapod joints. The 6 DOF decreases the machining time required by the machine to perform machining in very fine positions, with outstanding quality of machining.

The hexapod joint when used in flight simulators. The above platform acquires 6 DOF, which exactly simulates air craft experience.

The basic Stewart Platform, with ball and socket joints at both ends of the strut. This system has six local mobilities.

The hexapod initial design put by D. Stewart.

Applications of Hexapods in milling machines.

BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.hexapods.com/ http://www.hexel.com/ http://www.ingersoll.com/ http://www.polytecpi.com/ http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/6dof.html http://www.mel.nist.gov/namt/projects/hexapod