Ray-based Interference Free Workspace Analysis and Path Planning for Cable-Driven Robots

This thesis studies the interference free workspace (IFW) of arbitrary cable-driven robots (CDRs) for both cables and obstacles using the ray-based method. Continuing from this, the point to point path planning and verification technique to ensure that the resulting motion is within the workspace is also studied. CDRs are a type of parallel mechanism where cables, actuated by motorized winches, are connected from a base platform to either a single end-effector (also called cable-driven parallel robots, or CD-PRs) or multiple links that are connected in series through passive joints (also called multi-link cable-driven Robots or MCDRs). CDRs have attracted much attention over years due to their promising advantages, such as high payload capacity, large potential workspace, and ease of reconfiguration.