Original Article

Proc IMechE Part C:

J Mechanical Engineering Science
A novel relative degree-of-freedom 0(0) 114
! IMechE 2016

criterion for a class of parallel Reprints and permissions:

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manipulators with kinematic DOI: 10.1177/0954406216664756

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redundancy and its applications

Haibo Qu, Sheng Guo and Ying Zhang

Abstract
The mobility of a whole parallel manipulator and the relative degree-of-freedom are the key points in mechanism synthesis
and analysis, which often can be used to verify the existence of mechanisms. In this paper, the difference between the
mobility of a parallel manipulator and the relative degree-of-freedom is discussed. First, a novel relative degree-of-freedom
criterion is proposed based on the principle of determining the moving platform by N point positions, which is suitable for a
kind of parallel manipulator with spherical joints attached to the moving platform. Next, the relative degree-of-freedom
criterion is used to calculate the independent motions of the moving platform compared with the modified Kutzbach
Grubler criterion. The proposed relative degree-of-freedom criterion is different from the modified KutzbachGrubler
criterion in result value and physical meaning. Finally, the type synthesis of such parallel manipulator with open-loop limbs or
closed-loop limbs is performed based on the proposed relative degree-of-freedom criterion.

Keywords
Parallel manipulator, kinematic redundancy, relative degree-of-freedom criterion, synthesis, spherical joint

Date received: 3 April 2016; accepted: 27 July 2016

Introduction the whole parallel manipulator and the RDOF between

The mobility of the whole parallel manipulator is
dened as the number of independent actuators that
needed to get a unique conguration. While the relative
degree-of-freedom (RDOF) between the moving plat-
form and the xed base, also can be called connectivity
in Hunts1 monographs, indicates the independent
motions of the moving platform. Correctly determin-
ation of the mobility and RDOF is the key point
in mechanism synthesis and analysis, which often can
be used to verify the existence of mechanisms.
Therefore, the research on mobility and RDOF criter-
ion has attracted many scholars attention,26 and
lasted more than one century.
For nonredundant parallel manipulator, such as the
Stewart mechanism,7 the mobility, M, of the whole par-
allel manipulator is equal to the RDOF between the
moving platform and the xed base. Now, six inde-
pendent actuators are needed to determine the unique
conguration. Generally, the modied Kutzbach
Grubler criterion5,8,9 is used to calculate the mobility
of the whole parallel manipulator, and the result also is
considered as the RDOF because of the equality
between the mobility M and RDOF. However, this
phenomenon covers up the fact that the mobility of
the moving platform and xed base possess dierent
physical meanings.
For redundant parallel manipulator, there are two
cases: one is the redundantly actuated parallel
manipulator, and another is the kinematically redun-
dant parallel manipulator. For actuated redundant
parallel manipulator, the mobility is generally also
equal to the RDOF, but less than the number of actu-
ators.1012 While for the kinematically redundant par-
allel manipulator, the equality between the mobility
M and RDOF is not true. The mobility is often
greater than the RDOF, and is equal to the number
of independent actuators. At this moment, the result
calculated by modied KutzbachGrubler criterion
just represents the mobility of the whole parallel
manipulator, and cannot represent the RDOF
Robotics Institute, School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control
Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, PR China
Corresponding author:
Haibo Qu, Robotics Institute, School of Mechanical, Electronic and
Control Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, PR
China.
Email: hbqu@bjtu.edu.cn

Downloaded from pic.sagepub.com by guest on August 12, 2016

2 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
between the moving platform and the xed base.
Taking planar 8-revolute linkage as an example, ve
actuators are needed to determine the unique cong-
uration. While the RDOF between one selected
output link and the xed base cannot be exceeded
number 3. This phenomenon causes the confusion
use of the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion in
some kinematically redundant cases.
Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the dier-
ence between the mobility of a whole parallel manipu-
lator and the RDOF between the moving platform and
the xed base. And a RDOF criterion for calculating
the independent motions of a moving platform relative
to a xed base should be developed, which is dierent
from the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion.
Many scholars have performed the related research.
Phillipss13 introduced a so-called joint-in-the-bag
equivalence for a better understanding of the concept
of connectivity. Shoham and Roth14 introduced the
connectivity matrix and suggested a mathematical
algorithm for the connectivity computation in open-
and closed-loop robotic mechanism. Belore et al.15
reviewed the concepts of connectivity, degrees of
control and redundancy in spatial robots from topo-
logical viewpoint. Tischler et al.16,17 introduced the
variety concept of a kinematic chain and used it to
make generalizations about relative connectivity
within kinematic chain. Liberati and Belore18 pre-
sented a new algorithm for the computation of the
connectivity in kinematic chains having total and par-
tial mobility based on graph theory. Martins and
Carboni19 introduced new denition of variety and
connectivity in an algorithmic form and its calculation
method. Simoni et al.20 presented an application of
symmetry and connectivity to select kinematic struc-
tures of parallel manipulators.
In particular for parallel manipulator, Gogu9 made
a critical review on mobility of mechanism, and pro-
posed a formula for mobility calculation based on the
platform spatiality as dened by the connectivity
between the moving platform and the xed base in
the parallel mechanism. Huang et al.5,21,22 proposed
the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion, and
pointed that the RDOF can be calculated by formula
6  , where  is the number of independent recip-
rocal screws acting on the moving platform. Zhao
et al.6,23,24 put forward a theory of degrees of freedom
with a new proposed concept of conguration DOF,
which is more appropriate to calculate the DOF of the
mechanism with an output member rather than that
of the whole mechanism. Many scholars expected to
obtain a unied formula for mobility and RDOF cal-
culation. But as far as the authors are aware, there
exist many unexpected points during the calculation
of some complex parallel manipulators. Therefore,
one kind mobility and RDOF criterion just for one
kind parallel manipulator may be a better choice.
In this paper, a novel RDOF or connectivity criter-
ion is proposed, which is suitable for a kind of parallel
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mechanism with spherical joints attached to the
moving platform, in particular for parallel manipulator
with kinematic redundancy. This paper is organized as
follows. In the upcoming section, the generalized kine-
matic limb is introduced and the new form of RDOF
criterion is proposed. Next, the proposed RDOF cri-
terion and the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion
are used to calculate the RDOF between the moving
platform and the xed base, and mobility of the whole
parallel mechanism. The proposed RDOF criterion is
dierent from the modied KutzbachGrubler criter-
ion in result value and physical meaning. Subsequently,
the proposed RDOF is used in type synthesis for such
kind of parallel mechanisms with spherical joints
attached to the moving platform. Finally, the conclu-
sions are drawn in the last section.
New RDOF criterion
Generalized kinematic limb
In this section, a new RDOF criterion is proposed,
which is suitable for a kind of parallel mechanism
with spherical joints attached to a moving platform,
as shown in Figure 1.
The generalized limb is dened as a limb that is
used to connect the moving platform by using a spher-
ical joint and the xed base by using a kinematic joint
other than spherical joint.
The generalized limb can be an open-loop kinematic
chain or a closed-loop kinematic chain, as shown in
Figure 2. Each generalized limb is constituted by an
i-system and a spherical joint. While the i-system is a
screw system of rank ki formed by the screws asso-
ciated with kinematic joints, provided that all the
joint screws are linearly independent. The i-system in
the generalized limb is used to determine the center of
spherical joint, where the symbol i is the number of
independent parameters that needed to determine the
Figure 1. A parallel mechanism with spherical joints attached
to the moving platform.
Qu et al.
Figure 2. Generalized limb with an (a) open-loop or a (b)
closed-loop i-system.
center position of spherical joint. The center of spher-
ical joint is located on a surface in space. This surface
characterizes the generalized limb, and is termed its
reachable surface.25,26
In order to obtain the structure of the i-system, we
should determine the rank and the maximum linearly
independent screws associated with the i-system con-
stituted by basic joints. Since at most three independ-
ent parameters are needed to identify the position of
the center of spherical joint, the rank ki should not be
more than three. Note that a universal joint is equiva-
lent to two intersecting revolute joints, and a cylin-
drical joint is equivalent to a revolute joint and a
prismatic joint along the rotational axis, and so on.
We assume that the revolute joint and prismatic joint
are the basic joint types used for the i-system. Each
basic joint in a mechanism can be associated with a
unit screw.
If the i-system consists of only prismatic joints, the
conditions of determining maximum linearly inde-
pendent screws can be stated as: provided relocating
the free vector of prismatic joint screws to intersect at
a same point, if two prismatic joint screws are not
collinear, or no less than three prismatic joint screws
are not coplanar, the prismatic joint screws can be
guaranteed independent. If the i-system consists of
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3
Figure 3. The RRS limb with an open-loop 2-system.
Figure 4. The 2-PUS limb with a closed-loop 3-system.
only revolute joints, the independent conditions of
the screws formed by pure revolute joints can refer
to the linear varieties of Grassmann line geometry.27
Since at most three independent parameters are
needed to determine the position of the center of
spherical joint attached to the moving platform, we
can just refer to the linear varieties of rank 1, 2. and 3.
Take the RRS kinematic limb with an open-loop
2-system and the 2-PUS kinematic limb with a closed-
loop 3-system as the examples, as shown in Figures 3
and 4.
The RRS limb as shown in Figure 3 is con-
structed by a 2-system and a spherical joint, and the
position of the center of spherical joint in limb can be
determined by two independent parameters. The tra-
jectory surface of the center of spherical joint forms a
torus surface, as shown in Figure 3. The 2-PUS limb is
constructed by a 3-system and a spherical joint, and
the position of the center of spherical joint in limb is
determined by three independent parameters. Namely
at least three actuators are needed to determine the
unique position of the 2-PUS closed-loop limb.
A new form of RDOF criterion
In this section, a new form of RDOF or connectivity
criterion is proposed for parallel mechanisms with
spherical joints attached to the moving platform.
Here, the RDOF or connectivity is dened as the
number of independent motions between the moving
platform and the xed base, which is also referred to
the number of independent motions of the moving
platform.
4 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

As we know that, the position and orientation of a
moving platform can be uniquely determined by at
least three noncollinear spherical joints that attached
to the moving platform provided that the position of
the center of spherical joint is determined, and with-
out considering the concrete congurations of the
generalized limb.
The principles of proposing such novel RDOF cri-
terion can be stated as follows.
1. Only the achievable forms of the noncollinear
spherical joints attached to the moving platform
should be taken into consideration.
2. The noncollinear spherical joints can be realized
by an i-system in the generalized limb.
To determine the position of the center of spherical
joint realized by an i-system, the ki independent par-
ameters are required, where ki is the rank of the
i-system in general. For the special case, if the center
of spherical joint is located in a plane, even if the rank
of the i-system is larger than two, the number of inde-
pendent parameters that can be used to determine the
position of the center of spherical joint should be
assigned to two.
When the center positions of spherical joints
attached to the moving platform are determined, the
dimension of the moving platform is constrained.
Assume that the number of spherical joints realized
by the i-system is equal Pto ni i 1, 2, or 3.
3
Therefore, to determine the i1 ni spherical joints
(RS and PS limbs), with 2-system (PPS, PRS, RPS,
and RRS limbs), and with 3-system (P-(PPS, PRS,
RPS, and RRS) limbs and R-(PPS, PRS, RPS, and
RRS) limbs), the result, ki i, can be obtained easily.
However, except the basic generalized limbs, there are
complex generalized limbs, such as the generalized
limb with closed-loop unit. Therefore, two special
cases should be taken into consideration.
1. When the center of spherical joint only can per-
form one-dimensional movement, such as straight
line movement, even if the rank of the i-system is
greater than 1, ki 4 1, the value of ki should be
assigned as one and the symbol ki also should
be rewritten as k1 , i.e. k1 1.
2. When the center of spherical joint only can per-
form two-dimensional movement, such as planar
movement, even if the rank of the i-system is
greater than 2, ki 4 2, the value of ki should be
assigned as two and the symbol ki also should
be rewritten as k2 , i.e., k2 2.
The proposed RDOF criterion for parallel mechan-
ism with spherical joints also can be veried from the
constraint view.28 Because the i-system in each general-
ized limb provides 3  ki independent constraints, and
a free moving platform possesses six independent
movements, the RDOF between the moving platform
and the xed base also can be expressed as
X
3

that attached to the moving platform needs RDOF 6  3  ki  ni 2

P3 i1
k
i1 i  n i independent parameters. P3
The moving platform determined by the i1 ni
centers
P of spherical joints can be divided into Equations (1) and (2) are equivalent, since equation
3i1 ni  2 independent triangles. Since the three (1) can be simplied to equation (2). However, equa-
sides of each independent P triangle constrain three tion (2) is not convenient to perform the type synthesis.
independent parameters, 3 3i1 ni  2 independent In equation (2), the number of spherical joint realized
parameters
P3 are constrained by the noncollinear by the 3-system and the total number of spherical joints
n
i1 i spherical joints. attached to the moving platform are not exhibited.
Based on the above analysis, a new form of RDOF Equation (1) overcomes such disadvantages.
criterion for parallel mechanism with spherical joints When the spatial parallel mechanism degenerates
can be stated as follows to a planar parallel mechanism, the proposed connect-
! ivity criterion is also usable. At this moment, the con-
X
3 X
3 dition for connectivity analysis of planar parallel
RDOF ki  ni  3 ni  2 1 mechanism is changed, and it is stated as follows.
i1 i1

1. The revolute joint is used to connect the general-

where RDOF is the number of independent motions ized limb and the moving platform.
between the moving platform and the xed base, i.e. 2. Only 1-system and 2-system are used to determine
the number of independent motions of the moving the position of the revolute joint that attached to
platform, ni is the number of spherical joint deter- the moving platform.
mined by the i-system, i-system is formed by the
basic joint screws in generalized limb except the spher- The RDOF criterion in equation (1) is degenerated
ical joint attached to the moving platform, and ki is for planar parallel mechanism as
the rank of the i-system. !
The rank ki is determined by the composition of X
2 X
2
the i-system. For the basic open-loop generalized RDOF ki  n0i 3 n0i 2 3
i1 i1
limbs, such as generalized limbs with 1-system

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Qu et al.
Figure 5. A parallel mechanism with two generalized limbs.
where n0i is number of revolute joints realized by the
i-system.
When the moving platform degenerates to a binary
link, namely the moving platform and xed base
is connected by only two generalized limbs, as
shown in Figure 5, this proposed RDOF criterion is
also usable. Only one parameter is constrained by the
length of the moving platform. However, there exists
a passive rotational degree of freedom around the axis
p1 p2 in such parallel mechanism. The RDOF criterion
in equation (1) is degenerated for parallel mechanism
with two generalized limbs as
X
2 mechanisms can be analyzed by the proposed connect-
RDOF ki  ni  1  
i1
where  is the number of passive degree of freedom.
In this case,  is equal to one.
Applications in RDOF calculation
In this section, the proposed RDOF criterion is used
to perform some calculations. The proposed RDOF
criterion is suitable for such parallel mechanisms that
each limb connects the moving platform by a spher-
ical joint. There are many examples can be listed to
illustrate such RDOF analysis.
Here and throughout this paper, the capital letters
R, P, U, S, R, and P are used to denote a revolute
joint, a prismatic joint, a universal joint, a spherical
joint, an actuated revolute joint, and an actuated pris-
matic joint, respectively.
For example, the 3-[PPS] parallel mechanisms2935
have the planar kinematic limbs, which indicates that
the spherical joint attached to the moving platform
can be realized by a 2-system. The number of the inde-
pendent motions of the moving platform can be calcu-
lated by using equation (1), and that is equal to three.
Some parallel mechanisms, such as the 2-PPS/PPPS,
2-RRS/PRRS, 2-PRRS/PS, 2-RPRS/RS parallel mech-
anisms,36 show the RDOF is equal to four. And there
also exist some parallel mechanisms with the RDOF
being equal to ve, such as the 2-PRRS/PPS,
2-RRRS/RRS parallel mechanism.36 These parallel
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5
Figure 6. The 3-RPS parallel manipulator.
mechanisms are all suitable for using the proposed
RDOF criterion. If the moving platform of such parallel
mechanism possesses six independent motions, the gen-
eralized limbs provide no constraint to the moving plat-
form. Such parallel mechanisms can be listed as the
N-(PPPS, or PPRS, or PRPS, or PRRS, or RPPS, or
RPRS, or RRPS, or RRRS), where N is the number of
the generalized limbs. The number of independent
motions of the moving platform of all the above parallel
4 ivity criterion.
Next, a comparison study of the proposed RDOF
criterion and the modied KutzbachGrubler criter-
ion5 is performed with some concrete examples.
For nonredundant parallel manipulators
The 3-RPS and 6-UPS nonredundant parallel manipu-
lators are used to illustrate the RDOF and mobility
calculation of nonredundant parallel manipulator.
Case 1. The 3-RPS parallel manipulator is taken as
an example, as shown in Figure 6. The limb RPS is a
basic generalized limb. The position of spherical joint
is determined by the RP structure, which forms a 2-
system with rank k2 2. The combination type of
fn1 , n2 , n3 g can be stated as f0, 3, 0g. The RDOF cri-
terion in equation (1) can be rewritten as
!
X
3 X
3
RDOF ki  ni  3 ni  2
i1 i1 5
1  0 2  3 3  0  33  2 3
The mobility of 3-RPS parallel manipulator can be
calculated by modied KutzbachGrubler criterion
X
g
M d n  g  1 fk v  
k1 6
68  9  1 15 0  0 3
6 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

where M is the mobility of the whole mechanism, d is

the order of the mechanism, d 6  l, l is the
number of common constraint, n is the number of
links including frame, j is the number of kinematic
pairs, fi is the freedom of the ith kinematic pair, v is
the number of redundant constraint after eliminating
the common constraints, and  is the number of pas-
sive DOF.
From equations (5) and (6), we know that the
mobility of the 3-RPS parallel manipulator is equal
to the RDOF between moving platform and xed
base, and is equal to three. The number three in equa-
tion (5) indicates that the moving platform possesses
three independent motions. The number three in Figure 7. The 2-RPS/RRPS parallel manipulator with kine-
equation (6) represents that there need three actuators matic redundancy.
to determine the unique conguration of 3-RPS par-
allel manipulator. the center of spherical joint in RRPS limb only can
perform a two-dimensional movement, i.e. planar
Case 2. For the 6-UPS parallel manipulator, also movement. Therefore, the value of k3 should be
called Stewart platform, the position of spherical assigned as two and the symbol k3 also should be
joint is determined by the UP structure, which forms rewritten as k2 , i.e. k2 2, in RRPS limb. The com-
a 3-system with rank k2 3. The combination type of bination type of fn1 , n2 , n3 g can be stated as f0, 3, 0g.
fn1 , n2 , n3 g can be stated as f0, 0, 6g. The RDOF of The RDOF between moving platform and xed base
the moving platform and the mobility of the whole can be calculated by equation (1)
parallel manipulator can be calculated as !
X
3 X
3
8 3  RDOF ki  ni  3 ni  2
> P3 P 8
>
> RDOF ki  n i  3 n i  2 i1 i1
>
>
>
> i1 i1 1  0 2  3 3  0  33  2 3
< 1  0 0  3 3  3  36  2 6
>
> Pg
>
> M d n  g  1 fk v   The mobility of 2-RPS/RRPS redundant parallel
>
>
>
: k1 manipulator also can be calculated by modied
614  18  1 36 0  0 6 KutzbachGrubler criterion
7
X
g

The results from equation (7) represent that the M d n  g  1 fk v  

k1 9
mobility of the 6-UPS parallel manipulator is equal
to the RDOF between moving platform and xed 69  10  1 16 0  0 4
base, and is equal to six. The results also show that
six actuators are needed to determine the unique con- From equations (8) and (9), we know that the mobil-
guration of 6-UPS parallel manipulator, and the ity of the 2-RPS/RRPS redundant parallel manipulator
moving platform possesses six independent motions. is not equal to the RDOF between moving platform and
xed base. The number three in equation (8) indicates
For parallel manipulators with kinematic that the moving platform possesses three independent
motions. The number four in equation (9) represents
redundancy
that there need four actuators to determine the unique
In this section, three examples are used to illustrate conguration of 2-RPS/RRPS parallel manipulator.
the RDOF and mobility calculation of parallel
manipulators with kinematic redundancy. Case 2. For the planar 8R linkage, as shown in
Figure 8, it can be considered as a planar manipulator
Case 1. Compared with the nonredundant 3-RPS with kinematic redundancy.
parallel manipulators, the 2-RPS/RRPS parallel The mobility can be calculated by modied
manipulator with kinematic redundancy, as shown KutzbachGrubler criterion
in Figure 7, is selected to perform the RDOF and
mobility calculation. X
g
At this moment, there exists a special case about M d n  g  1 fk v  
limb RRPS. In RRPS limb, the center position of k1 10
spherical joint is determined by the RRP structure, 38  8  1 8 0  0 5
which forms a 3-system with rank k3 3. However,

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Qu et al.
Figure 8. The planar 8R linkage with kinematic redundancy.
While the RDOF will show dierent result, if dier-
ent link is selected as the output link. If link CD is
selected as the output link, the center positions of revo-
lute joint C and revolute joint D are determined by the
RRR structure, which forms a 3-system with rank
k3 3. However, the center of the last revolute joint
in RRRR limb only can perform a two-dimensional
movement, i.e. planar movement. Therefore, the
value of k3 should be assigned as two and the symbol
k3 also should be rewritten as k2 , i.e. k2 2, in RRRR
limb. The combination type of fn1 , n2 , n3 g can be stated
as f0, 2, 0g. The RDOF between the link CD and the
xed base can be calculated by equation (4).
X
2 be assigned as two and the symbol k3 also should be
RDOFCD ki  n0i  1   2  2  1  0 3 11
i1
If link EF is selected as the output link, the center of
revolute joint E can only perform a two-dimensional
movement, i.e. planar movement, and the center of
revolute joint F can perform a one-dimensional move-
ment. Therefore, the combination type of fn1 , n2 , n3 gcan
be stated as f1, 1, 0g. The RDOF between the link EF
and the xed base can be calculated by equation (4).
X
2 The mobility of the whole parallel manipulator can
RDOFEF ki  n0i  1  
i1 12
1121102
Similarly, if link FH is selected the output link, the
combination type of fn1 , n2 , n3 g can be stated as
f0, 2, 0g. The RDOF between the link FH and the
xed base can be calculated by equation (4).
X
2 The result from equation (15) represents that four inde-
RDOFFH ki  n0i  1  
i1 13
1021101
From equations (10) to (13), we know that the RDOF
between the moving platform and the xed base is
changeable due to dierent selected output link, and
the mobility of the planar 8R linkage is equal to ve,
which is obviously dierent from the RDOF.
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7
Figure 9. The parallel manipulator with kinematic
redundancy.27
Case 3. For the parallel manipulator with kinematic
redundancy,37 as shown in Figure 9, the RDOF and
mobility also can be calculated by the proposed RDOF
criterion and the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion.
For each limb, the center position of spherical joint is
determined by a closed-loop 2-PRR structure, which
forms a 3-system with rank k3 3. However, the
center of spherical joint in (2-PRR)S closed-loop limb
only can perform a two-dimensional movement, i.e.
planar movement. Therefore, the value of k3 should
rewritten as k2 , i.e. k2 2, in (2-PRR)S closed-loop
limb. The combination type of fn1 , n2 , n3 g can be
stated as f0, 3, 0g. The RDOF between moving plat-
form and xed base can be calculated by equation (1)
!
X
3 X
3
RDOF ki  ni  3 ni  2
i1 i1 14
1  0 2  3 3  0  33  2 3
be calculated as
X
g
M d n  g  1 fk v  
k1 15
615  19  1 25 9  0 4
The result from equation (14) indicates that the
moving platform possesses three independent motions.
pendent actuators are needed to determine the unique
conguration of the parallel manipulator.
Discussion
In this section, the results calculated by RDOF criter-
ion and modied KutzbachGrubler criterion are dis-
cussed. For nonredundant parallel manipulator, the
mobility calculated by modied KutzbachGrubler
8 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

criterion is equal to the RDOF between the moving

platform and the xed base. Therefore, some scholars
often use the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion
to calculate the independent motions of the moving
platform, in fact, it is nor accurate. The confused
use of modied KutzbachGrubler criterion covers
up the fact that The mobility of the whole parallel
manipulator and the RDOF between the moving plat-
form and the xed base possess dierent physical
meanings.
For the parallel manipulator with kinematic redun-
dancy, the mobility of the whole parallel manipulator
is often not equal to the RDOF between the moving
platform and the xed base. Now the modied
KutzbachGrubler criterion cannot be used to calcu-
late the RDOF. Based on this point, the authors pro-
posed a new RDOF criterion, which is dierent from
the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion in result
value and physical meaning.

Application in type synthesis

The proposed RDOF criterion also can be used to
perform the type synthesis for parallel manipulator
with spherical joint attached to the moving platform.
The procedure is similar to the method proposed in
Qu et al.,38 as shown in Figure 10.
The synthesis procedure can be stated as follows:
Figure 10. Synthesis procedure.
Step 5. Assembly and obtain the expected parallel
manipulators with the obtained generalized kinematic
limbs and the axis congurations of joints connected
to the base.

Step 1. Given the number of spherical joints
attached to the moving platform and synthesis scope.
The synthesized parallel manipulator is a kind of
mechanism with spherical joints attached to a moving
platform. The number N of spherical joints should
be given rstly, and it can be set to any integer
number N.
Step 2. Determine the combination types of spher-
ical joints realized by the i-system attached to the
moving platform with the expected RDOF by using
the proposed RDOF criterion.
Step 6. Selection of the proper actuated joints.
When the set of actuated joints are chosen, the
proposed parallel manipulator should possess a
unique conguration.
In order to prove the generality of the proposed
synthesis method, we assume that the number N of
spherical joints attached to the moving platform is
equal to 3, 4, 5, and 6. Now the proposed RDOF
criterion stated in equation (1) can be rewritten in
equation (16), which can be used to calculate the rela-
tionship between the number of spherical joints rea-
lized by i-system and the RDOF.

Step 3. Structural synthesis of the generalized limbs. X

3

The generalized limb can be an open-loop kine- RDOF ki  ni  3N  2 N 3, 4, 5, 6 16

matic chain or a closed-loop kinematic chain. Each
generalized limb is constituted by an i-system and a
spherical joint. The structure of the i-system can be
determined by the rank and the maximum linearly
independent screws associated with the i-system con-
stituted by basic joints. The generalized limbs are
stated in section Generalized kinematic limb.
Step 4. Arrange the axes congurations of joints
connected to the base.
The twist geometry conguration of the maximum
linearly independent group associated with the revo-
lute joints or prismatic joints attached to the xed
base can refer to the linear varieties of Grassmann
line geometry.30
i1
The concrete combination type of fn1 , n2 , n3 g
for dierent RDOF can be obtained and listed in
Table 1 (N 3), Table 2 (N 4), Table 3 (N 5),
and Table 4 (N 6).
Parallel manipulators with open-loop limbs
Assume that the number N of spherical joints
attached to the moving platform is equal to four.
Some parallel manipulators with three or four inde-
pendent motions of its moving platform and four
spherical joints attached to the moving platform are
obtained by connecting the moving platform and the

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Qu et al. 9

Table 1. Relationship between the Table 3. Relationship between the

number of spherical joints realized by number of spherical joints realized by
i-system and the connectivity (N 3). i-system and the connectivity (N 5).

RDOF n1 n2 n3 RDOF n1 n2 n3

6 0 0 3 6 0 0 5
5 0 1 2 5 0 1 4
4 0 2 1 4 1 0 4
1 0 2 0 2 3
3 0 3 0 3 1 1 3
1 1 1 0 3 2
2 1 2 0 2 2 0 3
2 0 1 1 2 2
1 2 1 0 0 4 1
0 3 0 0 1 2 1 2
RDOF: relative degree-of-freedom.
1 3 1
0 5 0
0 3 0 2
2 2 1
Table 2. Relationship between the 1 4 0
number of spherical joints realized by
i-system and the connectivity (N 4). RDOF: relative degree-of-freedom.

RDOF n1 n2 n3

6 0 0 4 Table 4. Relationship between the

5 0 1 3 number of spherical joints realized by
4 0 2 2 i-system and the connectivity (N 6).
1 0 3 RDOF n1 n2 n3
3 0 3 1
6 0 0 6
1 1 2
5 0 1 5
2 1 2 1
4 1 0 5
0 4 0
0 2 4
2 0 2
3 1 1 4
1 1 3 0
0 3 3
2 1 1
2 2 0 4
0 2 2 0
1 2 3
3 0 1
0 4 2
RDOF: relative degree-of-freedom. 1 2 1 3
1 3 2
xed base through four basic types of generalized 0 5 1
limbs with i-system, as shown in Figures 11 to 14. 0 3 0 3
The axes congurations of joints attached to 2 2 2
the xed base should satisfy the Grassmann linear 1 4 1
varieties27 of rank 1, 2, 3, or 4. Either the parallel 0 6 0
manipulators with three or four independent motions
RDOF: relative degree-of-freedom.
of its moving platform possess two combination types
of fn1 , n2 , n3 g, as listed in Table 2.
For parallel manipulators with four independent In Figure 11, the axes congurations of joints
motions of its moving platform, the two combin- attached to the xed base satisfy the Grassmann
ation types are f0, 2, 2g and f1, 0, 3g, as shown in linear varieties27 of rank 4, in which conguration is
Figures 11 and 12. nonparallel and nonintersecting. In Figures 12 to 14,
For parallel manipulators with three independent such axes congurations of joints attached to the xed
motions of its moving platform, the two combination base satisfy the 3-system constituted by three free
types are f0, 3, 1g and f1, 1, 2g, as shown in Figures 13 vectors.
and 14. These combination types are all satisfy Also, some parallel manipulators with three,
the RDOF criterion as stated in equation (16). ve, or six spherical joints attached to the moving

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10
Figure 11. The 2-RPS/2-RRRS parallel manipulator.
Figure 12. The PS/3-PUS parallel manipulator.
Figure 13. The 3-PRS/PUS parallel manipulator.
platform can be used to illustrate the proposed syn-
thesis method.
If the number N is equal to three, and the RDOF
is set to be three, there are two combination types
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Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 14. The PS/PRS/2-PUS parallel manipulator.
Figure 15. The PS/PRS/PUS parallel manipulator.
of f0, 3, 0g and f1, 1, 1g, as listed in Table 1.
The expected parallel manipulators can be obtained
by connecting the moving platform and the xed
base through three generalized limbs, as shown in
Figures 6, 7, and 15. The axes congurations of
joints attached to the xed base should satisfy the
Grassmann linear varieties27 of rank 1, 2, or 3.
If the number N is equal to ve, and the RDOF
is set to be four, there are two combination types
of f0, 2, 3g and f1, 0, 4g, as listed in Table 3.
The expected parallel manipulators also can be
obtained by connecting the moving platform and the
xed base through ve generalized limbs, as shown in
Figures 16 and 17.
If the number N is equal to six, and the RDOF is
set to be six, only one combination type f0, 0, 6g can
be obtained, as listed in Table 4. The typical mechan-
ism of such kind of parallel manipulator is the Stewart
mechanism, which consists of a moving platform, a
xed base, and six generalized limbs of identical kine-
matic structure. Each generalized limb connects the
xed base to the moving platform by a universal
Qu et al. 11

Figure 18. Type-1 2-(2-PRS)/2-PUS parallel manipulator.

Figure 16. The 2-PRS/3-PUS parallel manipulator.

Figure 19. Type-2 2-(2-PRS)/2-PUS parallel manipulator.

Figure 17. The 3-PUS/PS parallel manipulator.

joint followed by a prismatic join and a spherical

joint.

Parallel manipulators with closed-loop limbs

Actually, except the open-loop kinematic limbs, there
are complex generalized limbs, such as the generalized
limb with closed-loop unit, which can be used to con-
struct parallel manipulators. In this section, the syn-
thesis cases based on closed-loop kinematic limbs are
given. For simplication, the realization of spherical
joint are set as: Figure 20. Type-3 2-(2-PRS)/2-PUS parallel manipulator.

1. The spherical joint determined by a 1-system is

realized by a straight line mechanism, such as
Sarrus mechanism, PeaucellierLipkin linkage,
and so on.39
2. The spherical joint determined by a 2-system is
realized by a planar mechanism, such as planar
parallel manipulator.40
3. The spherical joint determined by a 3-system is
realized by a spatial closed-loop mechanism,
such as PUSUP closed-loop mechanism.
Case 1. Taking N 3, RDOF 4 and
fn1 , n2 , n3 g f0, 2, 1g (from Table 1) as the synthe-
sis objective.
Now the moving platform possesses four independ-
ent motions and there are three spherical joints
attached to the moving platform. Assume that the
spherical joint of type n2 is realized by PRSRP
closed-loop kinematic limb and the spherical joint of
type n3 is realized by PUSUP closed-loop kinematic

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12
Figure 21. The 3-(3-PRR)S parallel manipulator.
Figure 22. The 3-(3-PRR)S multi-level redundant parallel
manipulator.
limb. Some parallel manipulators can be synthesized
as depicted in Figures 18 to 20.
Figures 18, 19, and 20 show three 2-(2-PRS)/2-PUS
parallel manipulators and the axes congurations of
joints attached to the xed base are also sketched in
each gure, respectively. Assume that the prismatic
joints attached to the xed base are all selected as
the actuators, these three 2-(2-PRS)/2-PUS parallel
manipulators become redundantly actuated parallel
manipulators.
Case 2. Taking N 3, RDOF 3 and
fn1 , n2 , n3 g f0, 3, 0g (from Table 1) as the synthe-
sis objective.
Now the moving platform possesses three inde-
pendent motions and there are three spherical joints
attached to the moving platform. Assume that the
spherical joint of type n2 is realized by 3-PRR
planar parallel manipulator, and then such kind
parallel manipulator can be obtained, as shown in
Figure 21, which possesses redundant actuators.
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Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 23. The 3-PRS/2-PUS/2-RRR parallel manipulator.
When the moving platform of 3-PRR parallel
manipulator is degenerated into a revolute joint, the
parallel manipulator shown in Figure 21 will be
degenerated into a multi-level actuated redundant
parallel manipulator, as shown in Figure 22.
Case 3. Taking N 3, RDOF 3 and
fn1 , n2 , n3 g f1, 1, 1g (from Table 1) as the syn-
thesis objective.
Now the moving platform possesses three inde-
pendent motions and there are three spherical joints
attached to the moving platform. Assume that the
spherical joint of type n1 is realized by Sarrus mechan-
ism, the spherical joint of type n2 is realized by 3-PRR
parallel manipulator, and the spherical joint of type n3
is realized by PUSUP closed-loop kinematic limb.
One parallel manipulator is sketched as the example,
as shown in Figure 23.
Conclusions
1. The principle of determining the moving platform
by N positions is analyzed, and a novel RDOF
criterion is proposed, which is suitable for a kind
of parallel manipulator with spherical joints
attached to the moving platform, in particular for
parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy.
2. The comparison study on the RDOF criterion and
the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion is per-
formed. The proposed RDOF criterion is dierent
from the modied KutzbachGrubler criterion in
result value and physical meaning.
3. The proposed RDOF criterion also can be used
in type synthesis for such kind of parallel
Qu et al.
manipulator with spherical joints attached to the
moving platform, no matter based on open-loop
limb or closed-loop limb.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Professor Michael Stanisics for his care-
ful reading.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following nancial
support for the research, authorship, and/or publication
of this article: This research work was sponsored by
National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant num-
bers 51505023, 51475035, 51175031].
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