DESIGN OF SMA ACTUATED LIGHT WEIGHT PARALLEL MANIPULATOR WITH INTELLIGENT CONTROLLER

Parallel manipulators are best known for their high load carrying capacity, stiffness, fast, accurate positioning etc., compared to their serial counterparts. Lightweight parallel manipulators are typical parallel mechanisms in which the linear-rotary actuators and spherical-rotary joints are replaced by smart actuators and with or without flexure joints. This paper describes about a lightweight miniature parallel manipulator of size 17.5mm dia.x25mm height, made of Beryllium-Copper spring steel and actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators. The system modelling which includes dynamics and kinematics analysis is briefly described. The possibility of incorporating an Intelligent Fuzzy Controller is investigated. Preliminary simulation results are presented.