Development of Novel Design for a Hybrid Robot

In the summer of 2016, I got selected for

Mitacs Globalink Research Internship at Mechanical Engineering department of York University, Toronto, Canada. I worked in the field of parallel robotics under the supervision of

Prof. Dan Zhang at this excellent facility called Bergeron Center of Engineering.

During the course of three months, I learned about serial and parallel robotic manipulators. I did indepth study on 3RRR mechanism to understand the fundamentals of kinematics and dynamics and implemented workspace mapping, end-effector position validation, Jacobian matrix and stiffness mapping on MATLAB.

After reviewing prior literature, I learned that serial robotic manipulators offer large workspace but are often prone to compilation of errors at the position of the end-effector. However, parallel robotic manipulations offer comparitvely limited workspace while solving the error compilation issue. Hence, for applications requiring better of both we need a hybrid arrangement. Trying different alternatives between serial and parallel mechanisms, I suggested a novel design for hybrid robot having improved workspace and better stability.

Apart from research work, I also gained practical experience on 3D modelling in SolidWorks. I also got to operate a 3D printer for the first time in which I printed a tiny 5 mm cuboid.