Kinematic Analysis of a Suspended Manipulator

Master-slave manipulators are commonly used for remote handling in nuclear environments. They are generally mechanical, electrical (servo), or power manipulators. They need rigid support or rigid moving platform in the remote area for installation, they cannot be deployed in places, where such preinstalled rigid supports are not available. In such cases, the slave arm of the manipulator could be suspended on an EOT crane and taken to the site for remote operation. BARC has developed one such suspended manipulator and deployed it for remote operation in a radioactive cell. The crane, being flexible, poses challenges in position control of the end effector. Unlike manipulators with rigid base, the position and orientation of the end effector of a suspended manipulator depend on its inertial parameters, in addition to its kinematic parameters. We have developed an algorithm for solving the kinematics of a six degrees of freedom suspended manipulator. The algorithm is validated experimentally on a three degrees of freedom prototype arm.