A Review on the Dynamic Control of Parallel Kinematic Machines: Theory and Experiments

In this article, a review on parallel kinematic machine dynamic control is performed. It is shown that the classical control strategies from serial robotics generally used for parallel kinematic machine have to be thought again. Indeed, it is first shown that the joint space control is not relevant for these mechanisms for several reasons such as mechanical behaviour or computational efficiency. Consequently, the Cartesian space control should be preferred over the joint space one. Nevertheless, some modification to the well-known Cartesian space control strategies of serial robotics are proposed to perfectly suit them to parallel kinematic machines, particularly a solution using an exteroceptive measure of the end-effector pose. The expected improvement in terms of accuracy, stability and robustness are discussed. A comparison between the main presented strategies is finally performed both in simulation and experiments.