This book focuses on the synthesis of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, presenting a group-theory-based method that has the advantage of being geometrically intrinsic. Rotations and translations of a rigid body as well as a combination of the two can be expressed and handled elegantly using the group algebraic structure of the set of rigid-body displacements. The book gathers the authors' research results, which were previously scattered in various journals and conference proceedings, presenting them in a unified form. Using the presented method, it reveals numerous novel architectures of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, which are of interest to those in the robotics community. More importantly, readers can use the method and tool to develop new types of lower-mobility parallel manipulators independently.

Introduces the synthesis of parallel manipulators using a group-theory-based approach Provides general procedures for the synthesis of parallel manipulators Includes over 100 lower-mobility parallel manipulators with promising application prospects

Autorentext
Qinchuan Li received his B.Eng., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Yanshan University, Hebei, China, in 1997, 2000, and 2003, respectively.He is currently a Professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China. His research interests include type synthesis, kinematics, and application of parallel mechanisms. He has authored more than 50 publications in journals and conference proceedings. JM Hervé was born in France in 1944. He received his Dipl.Ing. degree from Ecole Centrale Paris, France, in 1968 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Paris 6 in 1976.He began his academic career in 1968, and in 1983, he became a Professor and was responsible for a mechanical design research team at Ecole Centrale Paris. He has been an Invited Researcher in the U.S., Canada, and Japan and is also a consultant for several companies. His professional interests include teaching and research in the field of mechanism and machine science. Wei Ye received his B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University, China, in 2010, and 2016, respectively.He is currently a lecturer with Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China. His research interests include design and analysis of reconfigurable parallel mechanisms. He has authored more than 15 publications in journals and conference proceedings.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Fundamentals of group theory.- Rotation and displacements of rigid body.- Lie group based method for type synthesis of parallel mechanisms.- Type Synthesis of 5-DOF 3R2T Parallel Mechanisms.- Type Synthesis of 4-DOF 2R2T Parallel Mechanisms.- Type Synthesis of 4-DOF Parallel Mechanisms with Bifurcation of Schoenflies Motion.- Type Synthesis of 3-DOF RPR-equivalent Parallel Mechanisms.- Type Synthesis of 3-DOF PU-equivalent Parallel Mechanisms.- Type Synthesis of a Special Family of Remote Center-of-Motion Parallel Manipulators with Fixed Linear Actuators for Minimally Invasive Surgery.- Type synthesis of Non-overconstrainted 3-DOF Translational parallel mechanisms with Less Structural Shakiness.- Type synthesis of Pan-Tilt Wrists with Uncoupled Actuation.