As one of the typical less-mobility parallel mechanisms, the spherical parallel mechanism Up.s with two degrees of freedom （2-DOF） possess high order overconstraints, and the calculation of its stiffness is partly different with general parallel mechanisms owing to the bars in each branch are assumed to be arc-shaped. By means of small deformation superposition principle, the relationship between the angle displacement and line displacement of moving platform and the forces acted on the branches were derived out. Based on the results of static analysis, the relationship between the applied force, the line displacement and the angle displacement of the mechanism was set up. And then the stiffness matrix was obtained. The six principal stiffness of the mechanism and the corresponding directions were achieved by the orthogonal transformation. The numerical calculation was performed and the results showed that the principal stiffness and directions are varied with the pose-position of the mechanism, and the principal stiffness is gradually enlarged when it is far away from the anigin. In addition, the torsion stiffness is much greater and the line deformation stiffness is smaller, the difference between the two parts is huge. The research content of this paper supplies the theoretical foundation for the further engineering design and application of the spherical parallel mechanism.
The application of the parallel mechanism is still limited in the humanoid robot fields, and the existing parallel humanoid robot joint has not yet been reflected the characteristics of the parallel mechanism completely, also failed to solve the problem, such as small workspace, effectively. From the structural and functional bionic point of view, a three degrees of freedom（DOFs） spherical parallel mechanism for the shoulder complex of the humanoid robot is presented. According to the structure and kinetic characteristics analysis of the human shoulder complex, 3-PSS/S（P for prismatic pair, S for spherical pair） is chosen as the original configuration for the shouder complex. Using genetic algorithm, the optimization of the 3-PSS/S spherical parallel mechanism is performed, and the orientation workspace of the prototype mechanism is enlarged obviously. Combining the practical structure characteristics of the human shouder complex, an offset output mode, which means the output rod of the mechanism turn to any direction at the point a certain distance from the rotation center of the mechanism, is put forward, which provide possibility for the consistent of the workspace of the mechanism and the actual motion space of the human body shoulder joint. The relationship of the attitude angles between different coordinate system is derived, which establishs the foundation for the motion descriptions under different conditions and control development. The 3-PSS/S spherical parallel mechanism is proposed for the shoulder complex, and the consistence of the workspace of the mechanism and the human shoulder complex is realized by the stuctural parameter optimization and the offset output design.
The structure design for high ratio of carrying capacity to deadweight is one of the challenges for the bionic mechanism,while the problem concerning high carrying capacity has not yet be solved for the existing shoulder complex.A new type biomimetic shoulder complex,which adopts 3-PSS/S（P for prismatic pair,S for spherical pair） spherical parallel mechanism（SPM）,is proposed.The static equilibrium equations of each component are established by using the vector method and the equations for constrain forces with certain load are solved.Then the constrain force on the middle limb and that on the side limbs are compared in order to verify the unloading performance of the mechanism.In addition,the prototype mechanism of the shoulder complex is developed,and the force feedback experiment is conducted to verify the static analysis,which indicates that the middle limb suffers most of the external force and the effect of mechanics unloading is achieved.The 3-PSS/S spherical parallel mechanism is presented for the shoulder complex,and the realization of mechanics unloading is benefit for the improvement of the carrying capacity of the shoulder complex.
