Kinematic synthesis of a four-link mechanism with rolling contacts for motion and function generation

In this paper, the kinematic synthesis of a four-link mechanism with rolling contacts is investigated. This mechanism comprises a two-fingered gripper and a grasped object. The synthesis equations used for motion generation and function generation are established. The number of free choices in design variables for the kinematic synthesis is also discussed. Furthermore, the optimization-based numerical technique is applied to solve the design equations. The optimized solutions are illustrated to discuss the kinematic states of the mechanism. It is also shown that the optimization-based method is effective in finding the admissible synthesis solution of the mechanism. c © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.