Workspace Analysis of a One Cable Planar Cable Robot

Abstract

Rehabilitation robots are usually made of rigid links which make them heavy with limited Workspace. Cable robots are introduced in rehabilitation to compensate these weaknesses. However, cable robots have an important weakness that they can only apply tension. This can substantially restrict the workspace of the robot. In this paper we introduce a novel configuration, which is a combination of cable and springs for a two degrees of freedom (DOF) planar cable robot, which is to be used for rehabilitation purposes. A set of springs are used to increase the workspace. Parameters of the springs are obtained through an optimization process. Static and dynamic workspace for this robot are then calculated for different configurations of springs calculated in design process.