Exploiting the Redundancy of Cable Suspended Parallel Robots for the Actuation of the End-Effector

Cable-driven parallel robots are a class of parallel robots whose performance, and lightweight and inexpensive design are of interest for industrial applications. For the design to be effective in the industrial field, an end-effector should be designed, and traditional end-effectors require an external power source for the actuation, which can be limiting in larger workspaces. This work presents the design of an end-effector which exploits the redundancy in the tension configuration to actuate a gripper. To fully exploit the variation in cable tension, a force-transmission mechanism is presented. Given the influence of the end-effector Cartesian position on the tension configuration, this work presents the available gripping force in the robot workspace. The results show a promising solution for the design, which is effective in grasping a mass of 1.5 kg in the workspace.