Kinematic Sensitivity Analysis and Dimensional Synthesis of a Redundantly Actuated Parallel Robot for Friction Stir Welding

Abstract Friction stir welding (FSW) has been widely applied in many fields as an alternative to traditional fusion welding. Although serial robots can provide the orientation capability required to weld along curved surfaces, they cannot adequately support the huge axial downward forces that FSW generates. Available parallel mechanism architectures, particularly redundantly actuated architectures for FSW, are still very limited. In this paper, a redundantly actuated 2UPR-2RPU parallel robot for FSW is proposed, where U denotes a universal joint, R denotes a revolute joint and P denotes a prismatic pair. First, its semi-symmetric structure is described. Next, inverse kinematics analysis involving an analytical representation of rotational axes is implemented. Velocity analysis is also conducted, which leads to the formation of a Jacobian matrix. Sensitivity performance is evaluated utilizing level set and convex optimization methods, where the local sensitivity indices are unit consistent, coordinate free, and of definite physical significance. Furthermore, global and hierarchical sensitivity indices are proposed for the design process. Finally, dimension synthesis is conducted based on the sensitivity indices and the optimal link parameters of the parallel robot are obtained. In summary, this paper proposes a dimensional synthesis method for a redundantly actuated parallel robot for FSW based on sensitivity indices.