Analysis of Planar Multilink Cable Driven Robots Using Internal Routing Scheme

The multilink cable driven robot (MCDR) is an extension of the cable robots where the moving platform is replaced by a multibody chain. It is typically an open-chain structure with multiple links and complex cable routing. This design introduces the advantages of having a serial kinematic structure and preserves the benefits associated with cable-driven parallel mechanism. To achieve a minimum number of actuating cables while possessing a large workspace region, a novel internal cable routing scheme is proposed. It is shown that by incorporating internal routing with multi-segment cables, any serial chain with n degrees of freedom can be controlled with n + 1 cables. In this work, through studying the kinematics and statics, we demonstrate how internally-routed cable actuation of multilink manipulators have an increased workspace and reduced cable forces to execute trajectories.