A stiffness analysis for CaPaMan (CassinoParallel manipulator)

In this paper the 3 d.o.f. parallel manipulator, named as CaPaMan (Cassino Parallel Manipulator), is analysed in terms of stiffness characteristics. A formulation is presented to deduce the stiffness matrix as a function of the most important stiffness parameters of the CaPaMan architecture. The specific design of CaPaMan, which has been designed and built at the Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics in Cassino, Italy, helps to obtain closed-form analytical expressions. A numerical investigation has been carried out on the effects of design parameters by using the determinant of the stiffness matrix as a stiffness performance index and results are discussed in this paper. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.