The Elliptical Trajectory with Modified

Sine Motion Profile for Delta Robot

Ruining Huang, Yunqiang Zhang and Yunjiang Lou

Abstract This paper mainly deals with the motion planning of high speed
industrial Delta robots in PPO. The elliptical trajectory with modified sine motion
profile has been adopted. Since the modified sine motion profile is characterized by
only two parameters, PPO motion planning is become more easily. Experiments
were done on a prototype of Delta robot. Comparing with rectangular PPO path
with s-curve velocity profile, this method can guarantee the smoothness of torques
and the less of error. Results verified that the motion planning had a better per-
formance in terms of the quality of the motion.

Keywords Motion planning
Delta robot
Elliptical trajectory
Smooth

Dynamics

1 Introduction

In many industrial robots applications, One of the most typical tasks is pick and
place operations (PPO) [1]. Compared to serial robots, parallel robots exhibit higher
speed/acceleration due to their lower moving mass/inertia. Recently they have been
widely applied in PPO, and the representative is the Delta robot [2]. As the motion
speed of parallel robots increase, the motion planning becomes increasingly

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 51475107), The
Shenzhen Basic Research Project (No. JCYJ20130329153408574, JCYJ20140417172620449).

R. Huang (&)
Y. Zhang (&)
Y. Lou (&)

Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
e-mail: Huang-rn@126.com
Y. Zhang
e-mail: hit.zhang.yq@gmail.com
Y. Lou
e-mail: louyj@hitsz.edu.cn

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 395

X. Ding et al. (eds.), Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots II,
Mechanisms and Machine Science 36, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23327-7_35
396 R. Huang et al.

challenging. It is highly desirable that the PPO be a smooth trajectory, which is

accomplished by securing the continuity of the curve, its tangent and its curvature.
Motion planning is generally divided into two stages that are called path plan-
ning stage and path tracking stage [3, 4]. During path planning stage, path shape
parameters, obstacle avoidance and other geometric problems are needed to be
considered, which determines the actual geometric path. During path tracking stage,
the main task is to find a motion strategy that optimizes a certain objective function
and guarantee system stability when the robot system moves along the path. Robot
path tracking subject to actuator saturation has been explored in early literatures. In
kinematics path tracking, constant maximum acceleration and jerk are used [5–7],
the resulting is smooth in acceleration. However, the method does not take into
dynamics, it cannot reach the “real” optimum since the bounds of acceleration and
jerk are variable in real motion. The path tracking imposes variable acceleration
limit in the state space by introducing robot dynamics. This method provides real
and variable bounds in the whole state space.
However, the dynamics based path tracking usually leads to discontinuity or
even abrupt changes of acceleration, which may cause severe vibration, mechanical
wear and saturation, etc. For high speed applications it is essential that the robot’s
motion is adequately smooth. In this paper, we propose elliptical trajectory with
modified sine motion profile to get smooth velocity, acceleration, jerk, and guar-
antee the smoothness of output torques.

2 Dynamic Model of the Delta Robot

The Delta robot, as shown in Fig. 1a, is a spatial parallel manipulator undergoing
purely translation motion. It is well-known for its very high speed. The kinematic
parameters are described in Fig. 1b. For applying the motion planning to the delta

Fig. 1 a Architecture of the Delta robot. b The ith subchain of the Delta robot
The Elliptical Trajectory with Modified Sine Motion Profile … 397

parallel robot, a dynamics model is needed. According to [8, 9], the forward and
inverse kinematics of the delta robot can be derived. The joint and Cartesian
velocity is related by the Jacobian [10].

Jx X_ ¼ Jq q_ ð1Þ

X_ ¼ Jx1 Jq q_ ¼ J q_ ð2Þ

where X_ is the velocity of traveling plate, q_ is the joint velocity vector, and J is the
Jacobian matrix. Jx and Jq are the forward Jacobian and inverse Jacobian, respec-
tively. Taking time differential to the both sides leads to

€ þ J_ x X_ ¼ Jq €q þ J_ q q_
Jx X ð3Þ

where X€ is the acceleration of traveling plate, €q is the joint acceleration, J_ x and J_ q

are the time derivative of Jx and Jq .
The dynamics model can be obtained by the virtual work principle

X
3 X
3
sp þ sai þ sbi ¼ 0; ð4Þ
i¼1 i¼1

where sp is the contribution of the forces acting on the travelling plate, sai is the
force/torque contribution of arm i, and sbi is the force/torque contribution of arm i.
Then, the dynamic model of delta robot is thus reduced to
2 02 3 1 3
Iat1 0 0
6 B6 7 1 C   1 7€
s ¼ 4@4 0 Iat2 0 5 þ J T Ju mb AJ 1 þ J T mp þ mb þ JuT mb 5X
6 6
0 0 Iat3
02 3 1
Iat1 0 0
B6 7 1 C   1
þ @4 0 Iat2 0 5 þ J T Ju mb AJq1 J_ x X_  J_ q q_ þ J T Ju2 mb q_ 2 ð5Þ
6 6
0 0 Iat3
2 3 2 3
  0   cosðh11 Þ
3 6 7 1 1 6 7
 J T mp þ mb 4 0 5  a ma þ me þ mb g4 cosðh12 Þ 5
2 2 2
g cosðh13 Þ

where Im is the inertia of the motor. ma , me , mb , mp are the mass of the arm, elbow,
forearm, traveling plate, Iati ¼ Im þ a2 ðma þ 3me þ mb Þ=3.
398 R. Huang et al.

3 PPO Motion Planning

3.1 The Elliptical Path

During a PPO, the robot is required to transfer an object from one point to another.
There is no special requirement on the path between the two points. It needs only a
clearance height above the platform to avoid collision with any other objects. It is
usually defined by a length and an altitude. The PPO speed is usually expressed in
terms of its standard cycle time, which is the time taken for the robot to cover a path
measuring 25  300  25 mm (see Fig. 2a) there and back [1]. The traditional path
is composed of straight lines and circular segments in the corner. It is clear that the
acceleration is discontinuous during the transition from a straight line to a circular
segment or from a circular segment to a straight line when the velocity is nonzero.
In order to obtain a smooth motion, the elliptical path, as shown in Fig. 2b, is
proposed to meet the requirements [1]. This path is characterized by a start point s1 ,
an end point s2 and a clearance height d. The elliptical path can be geometrically
represented in Cartesian space [10]
2 32 32 3
cosðuÞ  sinðuÞ 0 A 0 0 cosðpxÞ
s ¼ so þ 4 sinðuÞ cosðuÞ 0 54 0 1 0 54 0 5 0  x  1 ð6Þ
0 0 1 C 0 B sinðpxÞ

where s is a vector describing the path as a function of the parameter x, so

the center of the ellipse, so ¼ ðs1 þ s2 Þ=2, u ¼ tan1 s1y  s2y ; s1x  s1x , A ¼
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2
1
2 ðs1x  s2x Þ2 þ s1y  s2y , B ¼ d, C ¼ ðs1z  s2z Þ=2. Given u the angle
between the x axis and the vector s1 þ s2 projected onto the x-y plane, A, B and C
are scaling factors calculated from s1 , s2 and d. Applying a motion profile, it is
possible to determine absolute position, velocity, and acceleration function of time,
s, s_ and €s.

Fig. 2 The PPO trajectory.

a Rectangular. b Elliptical
The Elliptical Trajectory with Modified Sine Motion Profile … 399

3.2 Modified Sine Motion Profile

There are a number of predefined motion profiles such as partial cubic profile,
cycloidal profile, and modified trapezoidal profile. Compared to those motion
profiles, the modified sine motion profile is more suitable for high speed motion to
avoid vibration. It is a modification of the sine profile to get a lower maximum
velocity and a lower maximum acceleration. This profile can be characterized by
two parameters af and Af to include any specified duration of positive jerk or degree
of asymmetry [10]. It is expressed as follows.
8
>
> f 1 ð uÞ 0  u  A f af
<
f 2 ð uÞ Af af \u  Af  
x¼ ð7Þ
>
> f 3 ð uÞ Af \u  1  1  Af af
:
f 4 ð uÞ 1  1  Af af \u  1
 
Ca af 2Ca Af a2f pu
where f1 ðuÞ ¼ u sin ;
p p2 2Af af
 
2Ca Af 1  2af Ca af
f 2 ð uÞ ¼ þ u
p2 p
 2   !
2Ca Af 1  af pu 1  2af p
 sin  þ   ;
p2 2Af 1  af 2 1  af
  
2Ca 1  Af 1  2af C a af
f 3 ð uÞ ¼ 1   ð1  uÞ
p2 p
  2   !
2Ca 1  Af 1  af pð1  uÞ 1  2af p
þ sin   þ   ;
p2 2 1  A f 1  af 2 1  af
  !
C a af 2Ca 1  Af a2f pð1  uÞ
f 4 ð uÞ ¼ 1  ð1  u Þ  sin   ;
p p2 2 1  Af af
 
Ca af 2Ca 1  2af t
þ ¼ 1; u ¼ :
p p 2 T

and x represents the normalized displacement along the path as a function of

normalized time t=T, T is the total time to execute the motion, and Ca is the
coefficient of maximum acceleration. An example of the profile is shown in Fig. 3.
Combining the elliptical path with the modified sine motion profile, the PPO
trajectory is expressed as

s ¼ f ð t; s1 ; s2 ; d; af ; Af ; T Þ ð8Þ

Different shape of motion planning can be achieved by choose different

parameter. The velocity, acceleration and jerk are three dimensional vectors, so the
magnitudes of them are used for simplicity.
400 R. Huang et al.

Fig. 3 A modified sine

motion profile with af = 1/3,
Af = 1/2

af
Af

4 Experiment and Discussion

A delta robot prototype was manufactured. The characteristic parameters of the

Delta robot are presented in Table 1. The rated torque of motor is 2.39 N m. The
max velocity of motor is 6000 r/min.
Two PPO path were compared through experiment. The first trajectory was a
three segment, rectangular PPO path with a s-curve velocity profile as is commonly
used in industry, and the radius is half of the clearance. It will stop 50 ms after the
end of one motion. The second was the single segment discussed in this paper,
using a modified sine motion profile with a = 0.125, Af = 0.5. The path is from point
[150; 0; 750] mm to [−150; 0; 750] mm with clearance 25 mm, the period of
motion is 0.35, 0.30 and 0.25 s, respectively. Joint torques were calculated. The
results are plotted in Fig. 4. Where the error is the distance between the planning
position and the actual position, and the torque is the square root of quadratic sum
of three motor output torque percentage.
From Fig. 4, it can be seen that joint torques of the elliptical path is much
smoother than those of the rectangular path. The elliptical path also shows sig-
nificant reductions in the peak torques. And the error of rectangular path is More
than 50 %. So, by using the elliptical trajectory with modified sine motion profile,
the motion is smooth and suitable for high speed applications to avoid vibration.

Table 1 Kinematic and mass Parameter Value

parameters of the Delta robot
R—The radius of plate 200 mm
a—The size of arm 347 mm
b—The size forearm 806 mm
r—The radius of traveling plate 50 mm
Im—The inertia of motor 2.3833 × 10−4 kg m2
ma—The mass of arm 0.802 kg
me—The mass of elbow 0.532 kg
mb—The mass of forearm 0.421 kg
mp—The mass of traveling plate 1.831 kg
The Elliptical Trajectory with Modified Sine Motion Profile … 401

Fig. 4 The error and torque

curve in two trajectories.
a The cycle time is 0.35 s.
b The cycle time is 0.30 s.
c The cycle time is 0.25 s
402 R. Huang et al.

Table 2 Performance comparison

Time The rectangular path trajectory The elliptical path trajectory
(s) Error Torque Error Torque
Max Average Max Average Max Average Max Average
(mm) (mm) (%) (%) (mm) (mm) (%) (%)
0.35 4.28 1.67 132.95 37.12 2.33 1.00 67.32 27.17
0.30 5.92 2.12 164.75 44.92 3.08 1.21 86.15 34.83
0.25 7.50 2.66 198.16 58.01 4.50 1.60 120.86 48.31

Table 2 is performance comparison. It shows that motion planning is important

for robot, especial for the torque and stability. Excellent motion planning will
improve the performance of the system. The results show that the performance of
the Delta robot has been greatly improved by using the elliptical path motion
planning with modified sine motion profile.

5 Conclusions

A complete dynamics model of Delta Robot is presented, which is suitable for

dynamics analysis. By using the elliptical PPO path with modified sine motion
profile, the Delta robot can get faster and smoother because of the smooth trajec-
tory. If necessary, modified sine motion profile can be reformulated with non-zero
initial and final speed. Since the modified sine motion profile is characterized by
only two parameters, PPO planning is become more easily. This method can rapidly
lead to a solution that guarantees the smoothness of output torques.

Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory of

Performance Robots at Digital Stage (SDRC No. [2014]1507).

References

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tracking for robots: a convex optimization approach. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 54(10),
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robots. In: Proceedings—IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation,
pp. 599–605 (2009)
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5. Gasparetto, A., Zanotto, V.: A new method for smooth trajectory planning of robot
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7. Alessandro, G., Zanotto, V.: A technique for time-jerk optimal planning of robot trajectories.
Robot. Comput. Integr. Manuf. 24(3), 415–426 (2008)
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9. Lopez, M., Castillo, E., Garcia, G., Bashir, A.: Delta robot: inverse, direct, and intermediate
Jacobians. J. Mech. Eng. Sci. 220(1), 103–109 (2006)
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and Biomimetics, pp. 1789–1794 (2012)
Singularity Analysis of a High-Speed
Parallel Robot with Schönflies Motion

Fugui Xie, Xin-Jun Liu and Zubing Min

Abstract This paper introduces a parallel robot with schönflies motion. The robot
can be used in packaging production lines to realize high-speed pick-and-place
manipulation. It is composed of four identical limbs and a single platform. As a
result, this robot has better dynamic response potential. Based on the inverse
kinematics modelling, the singularity issue of this robot has been investigated. By
taking the transmission performance into consideration, the input transmission
singularity index and the output transmission singularity index have been defined
on the basis of screw theory. Thereafter, the robot with specific geometric
parameters has been taken as an example, and the corresponding singular loci have
been derived. The kinematics modeling and singularity analysis presented in this
paper is very helpful to the development of the robot.

Keywords Parallel robot
Inverse kinematics
Singularity
Transmission per-

formance Singular loci

1 Introduction

Parallel robots are essentially different with the traditional serial robots in terms of
structure. Serial robots are characterized by open-loop architecture, while parallel
robots are characterized by multi-closed-loop architecture [1]. Due to this distinc-

F. Xie
X.-J. Liu (&)

The State Key Laboratory of Tribology and Institute of Manufacturing Engineering,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
e-mail: xinjunliu@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
F. Xie
e-mail: xiefg@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Z. Min
Wuhan Heavy Duty Machine Tool Group Corporation, Wuhan 430250, China
e-mail: hhmzb@163.com

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 645

X. Ding et al. (eds.), Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots II,
Mechanisms and Machine Science 36, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23327-7_55
646 F. Xie et al.

tion, serial robots are good at dexterous manipulation [2] and possess large
workspace, while parallel robots are more fit for high-payload or high-speed
manipulation due to their high stiffness [3] and high dynamic response ability [4].
For such reasons, parallel robots have been used in flight simulation (such as
Gough-Stewart platform [5]) and high-speed pick-and-place manipulation in
packaging production lines (such as Delta [6] and Adept Quattro [7]).
For a high-speed robot in packaging lines, the schönflies motion [8], which
means three translations and one rotation about the vertical axis (i.e., 3T1R), is
generally necessary. In this field, the most famous case is that based on the Delta
robot which has three translational degrees of freedom (DoFs). The rotational DoF
is serially realized by adding a serial rotational equipment or by using another
passive kinematic chain. In order to further improve its dynamic performance and
increase service life, an innovative parallel kinematic mechanism (PKM) named H4
[9] is proposed. This PKM has four active kinematic chains and an articulating
platform [10] which actually is a double-platform architecture. Within this structure,
the rotational DoF is realized by the relative motion of the so called two platforms.
Based on this PKM, a series of industrial robots has been developed by Adept and
used in packaging lines. Of note is that, the articulating platform is complex in
terms of structure and increases the difficulty in manufacturing and further dynamic
performance improvement. In view of this, we will propose a similar PKM but only
with single-platform structure in this paper and focus on its singularity issue.
Singularity analysis [11, 12] is an eternal topic in the field. The
multi-closed-loop structure of PKMs makes this issue more complicated and
challenging. It is well known that, a robot works in singular configurations will
cause serious problems and even result in mechanical damage. Even a robot works
in the near singular configuration, its performance will deteriorate quickly.
Therefore, singularity analysis is indispensable for the use of a mechanism and its
workspace far from singular configuration should be identified and used in practical
application [13]. Then, how to identify the singular configurations of a mechanism
and how to evaluate the distance to a singular configuration? This paper will focus
on these two issues.
For a parallel robot, in general, its singularity can be classified into three cate-
gories [14], i.e., constraint singularity, input transmission singularity and output
transmission singularity. Among them, constraint singularity occurs in the level of
restricted motion and the analysis should be carried out from the motion/force
constraint performance. In comparison, input transmission singularity and output
transmission singularity occur in the level of allowable motion. Then, the corre-
sponding singularity analysis should be undertaken from the motion/force trans-
mission performance. Obviously, the constraint/transmission motion/force is the
key to discover a mechanism’s singularity in essence. Many modern mathematics
have been used in the research, such as Grassmann line geometry [15–19] and
screw theory [20–22]. The former can graphically express the motions and forces in
a mechanism and is convenient to qualitatively analyze the relationship of motions
Singularity Analysis of a High-Speed Parallel Robot with Schönflies Motion 647

and forces. By using this method, the singularity can be qualitatively identified in
an intuitive and concise way. In other words, the result is not numerical and it
cannot be used to evaluate the closeness to a singularity. In this paper, we will
introduce a screw theory based method which can be used to numerically analyze
the singularity of a PKM and to identify the workspace far from singularity.

2 Mechanism Description and Kinematics Modeling

In this section, we will introduce a four-DoF PKM with single-platform structure

and deal with its kinematics modeling issue. This PKM will be used in the pack-
aging production lines to realize high-speed pick-and-place manipulation.

2.1 Mechanism Outline

The CAD model of the PKM is shown in Fig. 1, and the kinematic scheme is given
in Fig. 2. From which we can see that, it has four identical kinematic limbs and a
single platform. Each limb is a RR(Pa)RR (R: active revolute joint; R: revolute
joint; Pa: parallelogram mechanism which is composed of four links connected end
to end by four revolute joints) kinematic chain. The four limbs are arranged 180
degrees symmetry as shown in Fig. 2. The axes of the revolute joints B1 and B3, B2
and B4 are collinear, and B1B3 is perpendicular to B2B4. Similarly, the upper rev-
olute joints P1 and P3, P2 and P4 are collinear, and P1P3 is perpendicular to P2P4.
The other revolute joints P1, P2, P3 and P4 are parallel to the vertical axis.

Fig. 1 CAD model of the proposed parallel robot: a overview; b bottom view
648 F. Xie et al.

Fig. 2 Kinematic scheme of

the parallel robot presented in
Fig. 1

Under this configuration, actuated by the four revolute joint B1, B2, B3 and B4,
this PKM can realize three translational DoFs and one rotational DoF about the
vertical axis.

2.2 Inverse Kinematics

As shown in Fig. 2, a global frame <: o-xyz has been established. The geometric
parameters of the PKM are as follows: Rbase ¼ r1 , Rplatform ¼ r2 , Bi Ci ¼ l1 and Ci Pi ¼
l2 (i ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4). The rotational angle of the platform can be denoted by u. Then, if
o0 ðx; y; z; uÞ is given, the inputs
 ai 2 ðq 0 180 Þ (i ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4) can be derived.
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Under this configuration, z 2 l1  l2  ðr1  r2 Þ ; l1  l22  ðr1  r2 Þ2
2 2

and l1 \l2 should be constrained.

Obviously, the coordinates of Bi can be expressed as
8 9
> B1 ðr1 ; 0; 0Þ >
>
> >
< B ð0; r ; 0Þ > =
2 1
fB< g ¼ ð1Þ
>
> B3 ðr1 ; 0; 0Þ >
>
>
: >
;
B4 ð0; r1 ; 0Þ
Singularity Analysis of a High-Speed Parallel Robot with Schönflies Motion 649

Given the coordinates of Pi in the zero position as

8 0 9
>
> P1 ðr2 ; 0; zÞ >>
 00  < P02 ð0; r2 ; zÞ =
P< ¼ ð2Þ
>
> P0 ðr2 ; 0; zÞ >
>
: 30 ;
P4 ð0; r2 ; zÞ

The rotation matrix about the z-axis is

2 3
cosu sinu 0
Rotz ðuÞ ¼ 4 sinu cosu 05 ð3Þ
0 0 1

Multiplying Eq. (3), there is

8 9
> P1 ðr2 cos u; r2 sin u; zÞ >
>
> >
>
 0  00 T < P2 ðr2 sin u; r2 cos u; zÞ =
P< ¼ Rotz ðuÞ P< ¼ ð4Þ
>
> P3 ðr2 cos u; r2 sin u; zÞ >
>
>
: >
;
P4 ðr2 sin u; r2 cos u; zÞ

Then, the coordinates of Pi can be derived as

8 9
> P1 ðx þ r2 cos u; y þ r2 sin u; zÞ >
>
> >
< P ðx  r sin u; y þ r cos u; zÞ > =
2 2 2
fP< g ¼ ð5Þ
>
> P3 ðx  r2 cos u; y  r2 sin u; zÞ >
>
>
: >
;
P4 ðx þ r2 sin u; y  r2 cos u; zÞ

Of note is that, the coordinates of Ci can be expressed as

8 9
> C1 ðr1 ; l1 sina1 ; l1 cosa1 Þ >
>
> >
>
  < C2 ðl1 sina2 ; r1 ; l1 cosa2 Þ =
C< ¼ ð6Þ
>
> C3 ðr1 ; l1 sina3 ; l1 cosa3 Þ >
>
>
: >
;
C4 ðl1 sina4 ; r1 ; l1 cosa4 Þ

By using the constraint jCi Pi j ¼ l2 , it can be derived that

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
mz  jy þ r2 sin uj 4l21 z2  m2 þ 4l21 ðy þ r2 sin uÞ2
cos a1 ¼ h i ð7Þ
2l1 z2 þ ðy þ r2 sin uÞ2

where, m ¼ ðy þ r2 sin uÞ2 þðx þ r2 cos u  r1 Þ2 þz2 þ l21  l22 .

650 F. Xie et al.

According to the assembly condition, there is

(
þ; y þ r2 sin u  0
sgnðÞ ¼ ð8Þ
; y þ r2 sin u\0

Then,
8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi9
<mz þ ðy þ r2 sin uÞ 4l2 z2  m2 þ 4l2 ðy þ r2 sin uÞ2 =
1 1
a1 ¼ cos1 h i ð9Þ
: 2l1 z þ ðy þ r2 sin uÞ
2 2 ;

Similarly,
8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi9
<nz þ ðx  r2 sin uÞ 4l2 z2  n2 þ 4l2 ðx  r2 sin uÞ2 =
1 1
a2 ¼ cos1 h i ð10Þ
: 2l1 z þ ðx  r2 sin uÞ
2 2 ;

where, n ¼ ðx  r2 sin uÞ2 þðy þ r2 cos u  r1 Þ2 þz2 þ l21  l22

8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi9
<pz þ ðy  r2 sin uÞ 4l2 z2  p2 þ 4l2 ðy  r2 sin uÞ2 =
1 1
a3 ¼ cos1 h i ð11Þ
: 2l1 z þ ðy  r2 sin uÞ
2 2 ;

where, p ¼ ðy  r2 sin uÞ2 þðx  r2 cos u þ r1 Þ2 þz2 þ l21  l22

8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi9
<qz þ ðx þ r2 sin uÞ 4l2 z2  q2 þ 4l2 ðx þ r2 sin uÞ2 =
1 1
a4 ¼ cos1 h i ð12Þ
: 2l1 z þ ðx þ r2 sin uÞ
2 2 ;

where, q ¼ ðx þ r2 sin uÞ2 þðy  r2 cos u þ r1 Þ2 þz2 þ l21  l22 :

3 Singularity Identification

For the PKM presented in Figs. 1 and 2, according to our previous analysis results
[23], the four limbs can provide two-dimensional couple constraints whose axes are
perpendicular to each other and parallel to the x- and y-axis respectively. That is to
say that there is no constraint singularity. Therefore, the singularity analysis in this
section will focus on the input and output transmission singularity.
Singularity Analysis of a High-Speed Parallel Robot with Schönflies Motion 651

3.1 Transmission Singularity Indices

For an n-DoF parallel robot, there are n active inputs in general. Assuming that, the
input of the ith limb is denoted by a unit input twist screw S=I i (i = 1, 2, …, n), and
the active input is transmitted to the mobile platform through a unit transmission
wrench screw S=T i . Lock (n − 1) inputs except the ith input, then only the trans-
mission wrench screw S=T i contributes to the mobile platform’s motion which can be
denoted by a unit output twist screw S=O i . Then, the input transmission singularity
index of the ith limb is defined as
 
S=  S= 
ni ¼  Ti

Ii
ð13Þ
S=T i  S=I i max
 
where, S=T i  S=I i  is the reciprocal product of the unit input twist screw and the
 
transmission wrench screw of the ith limb, S=T i  S=I i max is the potential maximum
 
value of S=T i  S=I i .
Similarly, the output transmission singularity index of the ith limb can be defined
as
 
S=  S= 

li ¼  Ti

Oi
ð14Þ
S=  S= 
Ti O i max
 
where, S=Ti  S=O i  is the reciprocal product of the unit output twist screw and the
   
transmission wrench screw, S=Ti  S=O i max .is the potential maximum of S=Ti  S=O i .
When the value of ni or li is equal to zero, the input or output transmission
singularity will occur. Therefore, the specific value of ni or li can be used to
evaluate the closeness to singularity. If all the transmission indices ni and li are
large enough, the discussed mechanism will be far away from singularity. Due to
the fact that the reciprocal product of the wrench screw and the twist screw has no
relationship with the definition of the frame, the values of ni and li are frame-free.
Additionally, all the indices’ values fall into ½0; 1.

3.2 Singularity Analysis

Take the following parameters as an example: r1 = 1.02, r2 = 0.78, l1 = 1.2 and

l2 = 2.64. Given x = 0, y = 0, z = −1.8 and u 2 ð180 180 Þ, the output trans-
mission singularity indices of the four limbs can be generated as shown in Fig. 3.
652 F. Xie et al.

Fig. 3 Distribution of the

output transmission
singularity indices

From which we can see that, the output transmission singularity occur in points A
and B. Due to the structure symmetry property, the distributions of l1 and l2 , l3
and l4 are symmetry about u ¼ 0 .
When the rotational angle u of the mobile platform is given and keep
unchanged, the singular loci (both input and output transmission singularities are
considered) in the plane z = −1.8 can be plotted based on the definitions presented
in Sect. 3.1. The distributions of the coordinates x and y in the plane z = −1.8 are
listed in Fig. 4. In which, the singular loci when u = 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120° and
150° are derived. Of note is that, the loci in Fig. 4 are generated on the premise that
rotational angle u of the mobile platform is fixed to a certain value.
In general, the translational workspace (without singularity) of this robot with
certain rotational capability should be identified to perform a task. Thus, the situ-
ation when the rotational angle u varies in a certain range is also analyzed here.
The singular loci in the plane z = −1.8 when u 2 ð45 45 Þ are plotted in Fig. 5.

Fig. 4 Distribution of the

singular loci in the plane
z = −1.8
Singularity Analysis of a High-Speed Parallel Robot with Schönflies Motion 653

Fig. 5 Distribution of the

singular loci in the plane
z = −1.8 when
u 2 ð45 45 Þ

From which we can see that, the loci are symmetry about the line y = x. This result
is consistent with the mechanism structure which is also symmetry about y = x as
shown in Fig. 2. Within the area surrounded by the singular loci in Fig. 5, the robot
can rotate at least ±45°.

4 Conclusion

In this paper, a high-speed parallel robot with schönflies motion has been presented.
This robot is based on a four-DoF PKM which has four identical kinematic chains
and a single platform. Due to its concise structure, this robot has better dynamic
potential. After the mechanism introduction, its inverse kinematics has been
derived. In order to investigate its singularity issue, the input transmission singu-
larity index and output transmission singularity index have been defined by taking
transmission performance into consideration. Based on the definitions, the singular
loci of the robot with certain geometric parameters have been derived. The kine-
matic modeling and the singularity analysis presented in this paper is very helpful to
the development of the robot which will be used in packaging lines to realize
pick-and-place manipulation.

Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China under Grants 51305222 and 51425501, and by Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific
Research Program under Grant 2014z22068.
654 F. Xie et al.

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Workspace Analysis and Dynamic Object
Tracking with a Delta Parallel Robot

Guoying Zhang, Guanfeng Liu, Weinan Chen, Xieyuan Lin

and Yisheng Guan

Abstract Dynamic tracking control of a Delta parallel robot is usually for accurate
positioning, swift picking and placing objects on the conveyor belt. Traditional PID
tracking algorithm is used to predict the poses of the objects on the conveyor belt.
However, this method cannot eliminate the problem of “ghost picks”. To overcome
the drawback, in this paper, we present an algorithm to adjust the moving speed and
the terminal pose of the robot in real time so that the robot can track moving objects
on the conveyor belt. Meanwhile, in order to achieve precise, swift and dynamic
tracking and picking, the objects in the robotic workspace are screened and sorted.
Furthermore, the operating and positioning status of the objects on the moving
conveyor belt is updated in real time.

Keywords Delta parallel robot

Dynamic tracking
PID
Ghost picks



Workspace Screening and sorting

1 Introduction

Delta mechanism was proposed and invented by Clavel at Swiss Lausanne

Engineering Institute during the period of 1980 [1]. It has been developed as
industrial robots and applied in manufacturing and packaging lines. A Delta robot is
a purely translational manipulator with three degrees of freedom. Such parallel
manipulators possess a number of advantages compared with traditional serial arms.
They offer much higher rigidity and smaller mobile mass than their serial

G. Zhang
G. Liu (&)
W. Chen
X. Lin
Y. Guan

School of Electro-Mechanical Engineering, High-Education Mega Center,
Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong,
People’s Republic of China
e-mail: gdutzhang@163.com

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 965

X. Ding et al. (eds.), Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots II,
Mechanisms and Machine Science 36, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23327-7_82
966 G. Zhang et al.

counterparts. These features allow much faster and more precise manipulations.
However, parallel manipulators come with smaller workspace and limited manip-
ulability in certain regions of their workspace. Nevertheless, Delta robots have
become an important class of parallel robots successfully applied in manufacturing
and packaging lines. Generally, the design process of an industrial robot is deter-
mined by specific operation features called for by application requirements. Once
operation specifications are defined, the design process of an industrial robot falls in
the following stages: kinematics optimization, trajectories analysis, dynamic opti-
mization and control system design [2].
Delta robots are most suitable for high-speed pick and place application
involving lightweight parts with simple geometries, Fig. 1 shows a Delt robot in
packaging application. In this application, a Delta robot needs to perceive the
motions of the objects on the conveyor belt, and to perform tasks successfully in a
dynamic environment. Many researchers have made deep investigation on dynamic
object tracking with Delta robots, and presented a lot of design methods. In [3] a
novel active prediction, planning, and execution (APPE) system is presented.
With APPE method, the object motion is first predicted, and the robot motion is
then planned and executed to intercept the objects. As for conveyor dynamic tracing
line problem (DTLP), they divide workspace object feasibly according to the speed
of conveyor belt. In [4, 5] the robot motion is analyzed and planned for conveyor
tracking considering the speed of the conveyor belt and the locations of the object,
and the maximum permissible line-speed is defined. In [6] a minimum time algo-
rithm to intercept an object on the conveyor belt by robotic manipulator is provided,
the robot is able to intercept objects on a conveyor line moving at a given speed in
minimum time.
However, all the above researches ignore the vision system for object recogni-
tion and localization. It is possible that the same item may be detected more than
once. This unwanted duplication may be caused by sensor bounce, or by over-
lapping pictures in a vision system. Moreover, in actual applications, there would
be a lot of objects entering the robot vision system each time. The location of each
object is random, if the motion of the robot and the conveyor belt is uncoordinated,
the robot may miss the objects. This paper deals with accurate dynamic tracking
and solves the problem of “ghost picks”.

Fixed platform
Camera
Active link

Mobile platform Passive link

Fig. 1 A Delta robot applied in packaging lines

Workspace Analysis and Dynamic Object Tracking … 967

2 Inverse Kinematics and Workspace Analysis

There exists more than one solution for inverse kinematics, depending on many
factors including the limitations of mechanical structure and its effective workspace.
Thus, some unreasonable solutions should be rejected. To decrease the burden of
real-time control, we must choose a part of reachable workspace as the actual
effective workspace.
One branched structure [7] and parameters of Delta robot are shown in Fig. 2.
Each active link with length of LAi Ci ¼ LA ¼ 350 mm is attached to the fixed
platform at a position of R ¼ 200 mm from the platform center. Similarly, each
passive link with length of LCi Bi ¼ LB ¼ 800 mm is attached to the mobile platform
at a position of r ¼ 45 mm from the platform center. The distribution angle ai ,
associated with each parallel i-Link are 0, 23 p and 43 p, for i = 1, 2, 3. The joint angles
h1i ; h2i ; h3i of the links are induced by a motion constraint of the delta parallel
mechanism using ball joints, which corresponds to the master arm motion
coordination.
Single chain closed-loop equation of the Delta robot is,

!
!
!
OP  OAi þ PBi  LAC
n

!

!
Ai Ci ¼ LBC
nCi Bi ð1Þ


!

!
where, n

!

!
Ai Ci , nCi Bi are unit direction vectors of Ai Ci ; Ci Bi respectively [8].

T
!
n

!
Ai Ci ¼ ½cos ai cos hi ; sin ai cos hi ;  sin h ; OP ¼ ½X; Y; Z
T

From Eq. (1), we have:

ri cos hi þ si sin hi þ ti ¼ 0 ð2Þ

Fig. 2 One branched z y R

structure of a Delta robot O
{W} {i}
x

r
P
968 G. Zhang et al.

where
8
< ri ¼ 2LAC
cos ai ½x þ ðr  RÞ cos ai  þ sin ai ½y þ ðr  RÞ sin ai 
si ¼ 2LAC z
:
ti ¼ ½x þ ðr  RÞ cos ai 2 þ ½y þ ðr  RÞ sin ai 2 þ z2 þ L2AC  L2BC

Simplifying Eq. (2), we have

hi hi
ðti  ri Þ tan2 þ 2si tan þ ri þ ti ¼ 0 ð3Þ
2 2

If ðti  ri Þ 6¼ 0, then there are three formulas related to tan h2i , as follows:

mi ðx; y; zÞ ¼ ti  ri ¼ 0; i ¼ 1; 2; 3

It can be verified that mi ðx; y; zÞ ¼ 0 is a spherical formula.

Denote the workspace points set as W, spherical point set is as follows:

Mi ¼ fðx; y; zÞjðx; y; zÞ 2 mi ðx; y; zÞ ¼ 0g; i ¼ 1; 2; 3

Define P as the end position, if P 2 ðMi \ WÞ, then

ri  ti
ti  ri ¼ 0; hi ¼ 2
arctan ; si 6¼ 0
2si

If P 62 ðMi \ WÞ, then

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
si  ri2 þ s2i  ti2
ti  ri 6¼ 0; hi ¼ 2
arctan
t i  ri

Given h1 ¼ h2 ¼ h3 ¼ 0 , we can use direct kinematics to obtain the position of

the end point, which is ð0; 0; 0:6205Þ. It is easy to verify that this position is not in
line with the equation of the three spheres, taking this point as the input of inverse
kinematics, leads to:
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
si þ ri2 þ s2i  ti2
hi ¼ 2
arctan
t i  ri

We can know that h1 ¼ h2 ¼ h3 ¼ 151:9484 is not within the scope of the

joint range, rounding the result of this inverse kinematics.
If P 2 ðMi \ WÞ; i ¼ 1; 2; 3, then the solution of the Delta robot inverse
kinematics is,
Workspace Analysis and Dynamic Object Tracking … 969

Fig. 3 Effective workspace of Delta robot

( pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 s  r2 þ s2  t2
hi ¼ 2
arctan i ti i ri i i ðti 6¼ ri Þ ð4Þ
2
arctan  r2si i ti ðsi 6¼ 0Þ

Draw up the workspace and the three spheres, the actual workspace of robot is
shown in Fig. 3. Considering the robot control and the practical application, we can
define that the space below the plane z ¼ 0:8 is the actual workspace, which is
called Weffective. The theoretical maximum height of object that robot can grasp is
339.1 mm.

3 PID Algorithm for Dynamic Object Tracking

PID controller involves three separate parameters, which are the Proportional, the
Integral and Derivative values. The Proportional parameter determines the reaction
to the current error, the Integral determines the reaction based on the sum of recent
errors and the Derivative determines the reaction to the rate at which the error has
been changing. Considering the fact that the tracking system has dynamic char-
acteristics, they are mainly reflected in hysteresis, oscillation and overshoot.
Experiment results indicate that PID controller can improve the dynamic charac-
teristics to some extent.

3.1 Description of PID Algorithm

PID algorithm can be described as:

970 G. Zhang et al.

2 3
Zt
1 deðtÞ5
mðtÞ ¼ Kp 4eðtÞ þ eðsÞds þ Td ð5Þ
Ti dt
0

R
1 t
where Kp eðtÞ is the proportional item, Kp the proportional coefficient, Ti 0 eðsÞds
integral item, and Ti is the integral time constant. Td deðtÞ
is the derivative term, Td is
dt
the derivative time constant. Defining mðtÞ as the controller output and eðtÞ as the
control error [9]. The output from the three terms, the proportional, the integral and
the derivative terms, are summed to calculate the output of the PID controller.
K
Defining Tpi as Ki , Kp Td as Kd , the final form of the PID algorithm is:

Zt
deðtÞ
mðtÞ ¼ Kp eðtÞ þ Ki eðsÞds þ Kd ð6Þ
dt
0

Kp , Ki and Td are tuning parameters. Larger Kp typically means faster response

since the larger the error, the larger the proportional term compensation. An
excessively large proportional gain will lead to process instability and oscillation.
Larger Ki may eliminate steady state errors more quickly. The trade-off is larger
overshoot: any negative error integrated during transient response must be inte-
grated away by positive error before we reach steady state. Larger Td decreases
overshoot, but slows down transient response and may lead to instability due to
signal noise amplification in the differentiation of the error.
When objects on the conveyor belt move into the camera’s field of view, the
vision software will perform tasks including filtering, feature extraction, morpho-
logical analysis and template matching. The instantaneous position which is in the
conveyor coordinate system of object is shown in Fig. 4. By means of coordinate
transformation, it is easy to obtain the position P1 in the robot coordinate system. At
different times of the sampling period, the position of end-effector is given by Pr0 .
Then the end position of robot at any time is P1 þ pte  p0e , wherein pte is the
encoder readings in moment t, p0e is the encoder readings when taking photos.
According to the analysis, we get
(  
ex ðtÞ ¼ xr0  x1 þ pte  p0e  sin h
  ð7Þ
ey ðtÞ ¼ yr0  y1 þ pte  p0e  cos h

where ex ðtÞ and ey ðtÞ in Eq. (7) are components of eðtÞ in X-axis and Y-axis, h is the
angle between conveyor and X-axis. In the next cycle, end position of the robot will
be Pr1 :
Workspace Analysis and Dynamic Object Tracking … 971

xr0
Camera End-effector yr0
Pro
Pr1 zr0

z1 x1
θ
Object
P1 y1

Fig. 4 Coordinates transform and analysis of conveyor tracking

Pr1 ¼ Pr0 þ mðtÞ ð8Þ

In this study, the position of end-effector Pr0 and Pr1 should be taken into
account, i.e., Pr0 , Pr1  P 2 ðMi \ WÞ. Effective workspace limits the position of
end-effector.
To the formula (6) integrated over time in the discrete approach, update Pr1
every sampling period. If the sampling period is short enough, then the integration
can be regarded as continuous. Therefore, the adjustment mx ðtÞ and my ðtÞ of the
robot at moment t can be written as:
(
mx ðtÞ ¼ Kp ex ðtÞ þ Ki Dt  ex ðtÞ þ Kd exDtðtÞ
e ðtÞ ð9Þ
my ðtÞ ¼ Kp ey ðtÞ þ Ki Dt  ey ðtÞ þ Kd yDt

3.2 Experiment

The system model is assumed to have the following characteristics:

(i) The conveyor belt system runs at the constant velocity of 70 mm/s, and the
parts are stationary with respect to the conveyor belt system.
(ii) The robot tracks the parts along a straight line path over the conveyor belt.
In this experiment, we did not consider Z-axis rotation. The reason was that the
dynamic tracking generally considers the displacement of X and Y only, but not
involves the changes in object orientation. According to the formula (6)–(9), an
object tracking experiment was carried out. The result is as follows.
From Fig. 5, we can see that the robot quickly reaches the steady state and
converges to the desired trajectory. PID tracking algorithm of this paper completes
the real-time tracking of objects, and ensures the dynamic performance of the
system.
972 G. Zhang et al.

Fig. 5 The tracking error 200

between the object and the
100
robot
0

-100

error
-200

-300

-400

-500

-600
3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33
time(ms)

4 Taking Image Based on Time and Distance

PID algorithm can ensure both tracking accuracy and dynamic response perfor-
mance for a Delta robot, but it is only suitable for solving the single-input
single-output linear tracking problem. In actual applications, a lot of objects ran-
domly discovered in vision system at each time. If the velocities of the robot and the
conveyor are not matched, object missing or duplicating will occur constantly,
which reduces efficiency of the robot seriously.
Thus, taking image plays the key role. In this paper, two kinds of algorithms to
acquire image are developed, one is taking image according to time, and the other
one is according to distance. Furthermore, to the first algorithm, screening and
sorting the objects by the vision system are proposed to avoid grasping missing or
duplicating. To the second algorithm, the reasonable distance range is given, and in
this range, each object will be photographed at least once, not more than twice,
which greatly increase efficiency of robot and use less CPU or memory resources.

4.1 Taking Image According to Time

In Fig. 6, the camera takes photo four times every second successively. It is not hard
to see the whole image: P1 appears once completely, P2 appears twice, P3, P4
appear three times, and P5 appears twice. Obviously, we hope to see all the objects
appear in the array only once every time. Thus, taking image according to time is
incapable of identifying the same object. It is only responsible for extracting object
characteristics, positioning object and transferring the coordinate information to the
robot. In consequence of taking photo according to time, larger CPU or more
memory resources are consumed, and the efficiency of robot is reduced.
Workspace Analysis and Dynamic Object Tracking … 973

P4 P4
P1 P1
P3 P3
P2 P2

P4 P4

P3 P3
P5 P5

Fig. 6 View field of the camera when taking photo according to time

In view of the fact, it needs to design a reasonable judgment to distinguish the

same object in the four pictures. The system judges new incoming object according
to location data. If the new data is judged as existing object, then the data will be
discarded. This process is called screening of object. The realization idea is shown
in Fig. 7.
Given the coordinate information as P0 ðx0 ; y0 ; z0 ; E0 Þ, it is worth noting that: E0
is the encoder readings while taking pictures. In this case, according to the fol-
lowing Eq. (11), we can determine whether the data is discarded or not.
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
 
 ðxi  x0Þ2 þ ðyi  y0Þ2 þ ðzi  z0Þ2  ðEc  E0 Þ\D; i ¼ 1; 2; 3. . .N ð10Þ
 

wherein h is the angle between the direction of conveyor movement and the robot
coordinate system X-axis. Ec is the encoder readings at present. xi ; yi ; x0 and y0 are
the position components in the robot coordinate while taking pictures; Dx and Dy
are preset errors which are in a permitted range.

4.2 Taking Image According to Distance

The same object in the adjacent picture can be eliminated by formula (10), but this
will occupy large amount of CPU, because N comparisons must be carried out

Head 1 2 3 4 5 6 n Tail

Fig. 7 Queue of objects on the conveyor belt (first in first out)

974 G. Zhang et al.

(a) (b)

(c)

Fig. 8 Relationship between where object is and the distance of taking photo

before each new data enters the queue. Therefore, taking picture according to
distance is reasonable. No matter how fast the conveyor belt is moving, picture will
be taken in a fixed distance accordingly. We have done the following experiment.
As shown in Fig. 8, L is the maximum length of the conveyor belt, m is the one
half maximum width of object, supposing object is a regular circle shape, and L is
much greater than m. Dl is the distance of taking image. When Dl L  m, in the
case of Fig. 8a, b, object was photographed once completely. In practice, one object
was allowed to be photographed once or twice. But if Dl is too small, it will lead to
taking photo of the same object repeatedly, maybe more than twice. Therefore, the
lower limit of Dl is given as Dl [ L2  m, in the case of Fig. 8c, the object will be
photographed twice at most in any case. Consequently, the range of distance Dl can
be expressed by in Eq. (11).

L
 m\Dl Lm ð11Þ
2

5 Conclusion

In this paper, we have used the derivative PID controller to predict and track
dynamic objects. Considering the multiple-input single-output case, to eliminate the
problem of “ghost picks”, we have presented two kinds of methods for taking
photos, and employed a queue structure to save the objects data stream. Data queue
is updated constantly associated with the moving belt. Several experiments have
testified that there are no objects omitted and duplicated.

Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 500130115), the NSFC-Guangdong Joint Fund (Grant No. U1401240), the State
International Science and Technology Cooperation Special Items (Grant No. 2015DFA11700).
Workspace Analysis and Dynamic Object Tracking … 975

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