Singularity avoidance of a six degree of freedom three dimensional redundant planar manipulator

This paper focuses on the improvement of singularity avoidance of three dimensional planar redundant manipulators by increasing its degrees of freedom without increasing the number of motors controlling the manipulator. Consequently, the method to build a three dimensional planar manipulator with six-degrees of freedom using three motors instead of six is discussed in detail. A comparison of the manipulability index values for the proposed manipulator is made with the manipulability index values of PUMA arm to demonstrate the effectiveness of using the proposed manipulator for singularity avoidance. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.