Japan STA Program: Kinematics and Calibrations of Parallel-Link Manipulators This award will provide supplementary support to enable Dr. Charles Wampler of General Motors Research Laboratories to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Tatsuo Arai for 6 months at the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan. They will utilize the forward kinematic control algorithms Wampler has developed to test a prototype parallel-link manipulator robot Dr. Arai designed and built. The Stewart platform, a parallel-link manipulator, has mainly been used for aircraft simulators and similar applications since the mid 1980's. Dr. Arai has designed and built a prototype Stewart- platform manipulator for use in underground excavation. Excavation requires the manipulator to exert large forces, and in order to optimize the manipulator's ability to exert such forces, a seventh serial-link leg was added to the center of Arai's manipulator, effectively reducing the size of workspace. Dr. Wampler proposes to develop a way to eliminate the seventh leg by adding extra joints and instrumentation to the original six legs, to calibrate the robot with six legs, then to test their theoretical work on Dr. Arai's robot. Dr. Arai's expertise in robotics, particularly the parallel-link manipulator, complements Dr. Wampler's experience in kinematics of manipulators and numerical solution of polynomial systems. This collaborative research will provide Wampler with first-hand knowledge of leading-edge Japanese research in robotics.
