Synthesis of a planar 3 degree-of-freedom adjustible compliance mechanism

In this work, we propose a planar three degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism as another type of assembly device which utilized joint compliances. These joint compliances can be adjusted either by properly replacing the joint compliances or by actively controlling stiffness at joints, in order to generate the desired operational compliance characteristics at RCC point, The operational compliance matrix for this mechanism is explicitly obtained by symbolic manipulation and its operational compliance characteristics are examined, it is found that the RCC point exists at the center of the workspace when the mechanism maintains symmetric configurations. Compliance characteristic and its sensitivity of this mechanism is analyzed with respect to the magnitude of the diagonal compliance components and two different matrix norms measuring compliance sensitivity. It is expected that the analysis results provide the designer with a helpful information to determine a set of optimal parameters of this RCC mechanism.