Strategy for Topological Reconfiguration of Cable-Driven Parallel Robots

Abstract

This paper presents a strategy for stable topological In-Operation-Reconfiguration of Cable-Driven Parallel Robots. Hereby, the term topological refers to the addition or removal of active cables and, thus, changing the topology of the cable robot. During the whole reconfiguration process, the strategy guarantees platform stability by considering a stability criterion that is based on potential energy. In this context, two new formulations of a stable and minimal-stable workspace are introduced. Consequently, the theoretical foundations of kinematics and statics are introduced first. Based on that, limitations in conventional modelling approaches in context of topological reconfiguration are outlined and necessary adaptions of the modelling are made. Afterwards, impacts of topological adaptions are analysed, followed by a formal description and a strategy for topological In-Operation-Reconfiguration. Conclusively, the reconfiguration strategy is applied to two simulation experiments, which show that the method is suitable to determine a stable reconfiguration sequence for the desired adaption of the robot.