Kinematic and Performance Analysis of a Novel Reconfigurable Parallel Mechanism

This paper presents a novel 4-DOF (Degree of freedom) reconfigurable parallel mechanism which owns the continuously reconfigurable ability. The reconfigurable parallel mechanism can change its configurations by driving a gear train system. Then, the structural parameters will be changed to form different configurations which have different performances. Some performance indices are analyzed, like dexterity, stiffness and workspace. Finally, a numerical example has been proposed to verify the kinematic analysis.