US-South Africa Cooperative Research: The Design and Optimization of Parallel Platforms for Machining Operations

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a collaborative research project between Joseph Duffy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, and Jan Snyman, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa. The investigators will conduct research in optimizing dexterous work spaces, minimizing actuator forces and energy use required in the execution of tasks by robot manipulators. The investigators at the two institutions have successfully performed jonit work during the past two years on Stewart platforms. The research groups have complementary expertise. The work done at the University of Florida is focused on optimizing platform design using geometry, kinematics, and statics, while researchers at the University of Pretoria who have extensive experience in the optimization of serial robot manipulators propose to extend and to apply this knowledge to parallel devices for machining operations. The integration of results should provide a designer with much valuable data that will enable the production of an optimum or near optimum design for a range of tasks. The research also shows important potential impact on the manufacturing industry of South Africa and other developing countries as well as on that of the United States. The implementation of this technology lies primarily in retrofitting existing non-CNC milling equipment to increase their capability at a lower cost than that of the alternate of purchasing traditional 5-axis machining centers.