Determining the maximal singularity-free circle or sphere of parallel mechanisms using interval analysis

This paper proposes a systematic algorithm based on the interval analysis concept in order to obtain the maximal singularity-free circle or sphere within the workspace of parallel mechanisms. As case studies the 3-RPR planar and 6-UPS parallel mechanisms are considered to illustrate the relevance of the algorithm for 2D and 3D workspaces. To this end, the main algorithm is divided into four sub-algorithms, which eases the understanding of the main approach and leads to a more effective and robust algorithm to solve the problem. The first step is introduced to obtain the constant-orientation workspace and then the singularity locus. The main purpose is to obtain the maximal singularity-free workspace for an initial guess. Eventually, the general maximal singularity-free workspace is obtained. The main contribution of the paper is the proposition of a systematic algorithm to obtain the maximal singularity-free circle/sphere in the workspace of parallel mechanisms. The combination of the maximal singularity-free circle or sphere with the workspace analysis by taking into account the stroke of the actuators, as additional constraint to the latter problem, is considered. Moreover, the center point of the circle/sphere is not restrained to a prescribed point.