Isotropic Design of Tendon-Driven Manipulators

Abstract

This paper deals with the synthesis of mechanical transmission structures for tendon-driven manipulators. Based on static force analysis, necessary conditions are developed for the synthesis of tendon-driven manipulators with isotropic transmission characteristics. It is shown that an n degree-of-freedom (dof) manipulator will possess the isotropic transmission characteristics, if it satisfies two isotropic conditions. Furthermore, a design equation is derived for the construction of isotropic transmission structure matrices and a three-dof spatial manipulator is synthesized to demonstrate the methodology. It is shown that the isotropic design leads to a more uniform tendon force distribution.