H-Delta: design and applications of a novel 5 degree of freedom parallel robot
Abstract
This thesis presents a new parallel 5 DOF robot called the H-Delta. The H-
Delta adds 2 degrees of freedom (DOF) to the traditional Delta robot in a novel
way, adding functionality and versatility. Importantly, the rotational DOF are
decoupled, independent of the translational movement.
This thesis begins by covering the necessary background the H-Delta is built
upon, and then describes the structure of the H-delta and how it improves upon
the state-of-the-art. The kinematic analysis of the H-Delta covers the inverse
kinematics, Jacobian matrix derivation, stiffness, and dexterity. To provide a
reference to an existing structure the H-Delta is compared to the benchmark
Stewart Platform.
A Dynamic analysis is performed by formulating the dynamic equations of
the H-Delta using the Lagrangian method. The results of the dynamic calcu-
lations are verified with a dynamic simulation which also acts as a test bed to
develop control systems.
A multi-objective optimization of the H-Delta is presented and using the in-
formation accrued to this point an initial prototype is designed and constructed
to verify the H-Delta structure.
With the knowledge of the strengths of the H-Delta gained from the analysis
and prototype, select applications are presented where the H-Delta best lends
its strengths to the application.
The H-Delta is mounted on a UAV to survey and interact with its surroun-
dings. The prototype can use an on-board camera to track the position of an
objective on the ground and center the gripper over it. When the UAV gets close
enough, the H-Delta reaches out and automatically retrieves the object. When
flying around, the H-Delta stabilizes the movement of the end effector, reducing
acceleration. The prototype movement is measured and the results show that
the end effector is accurate to within 3mm and the rotation is accurate within
0.5 degrees.