Research on End-force Output of 8-cable Driven Parallel Manipulator

The return capsule needs to be launched to the moon and return back to earth in the third stage of the Chinese lunar exploration project. Therefore, it is necessary to perform simulations on the ground. This paper presents an 8-cable-driven parallel manipulator to achieve end-force output in a low-gravity environment. End-force output refers to the vector sum of the external force on the end-effector. A model of end-force output is established based on a kinematics model, a dynamic model, and a force analysis of an 8-cable driven parallel manipulator. To obtain end-force output in a low-gravity environment, the cable force has to be controlled to counteract gravity. In addition, a force-position mix control strategy is proposed to proactively control the cable force according to the force optimal distribution given by the closed-form force distribution method. Furthermore, a suitable choice for an end-force output is obtained by modeling the effect of cable force on end-force output. Experimental results show that the actual cable force agrees well with the calculated force distribution, indicating that it is feasible to realize end-force output in a low gravity environment.