Structural design and motion simulation of a parallel manipulator for food sorting

Abstract

This paper focuses on the structure design and kinematic analysis of Delta parallel robots, aiming at meeting the needs of fast, lightweight, and precise food grading applications. At first, the design variables have been defined based on the working environment, followed by a definition of the robot’s global structural schema as well as its 3D model. An inverse kinematic model for the Delta mechanism is defined, and its reachable workspace has been analyzed with specific software, allowing us to improve this first design by adjusting some main parameters. Simulations of straight line movements of the end effector have allowed checking the continuity and feasibility of robot motions in a given workspace. Simulated motion and collision analyses proved that our robot is able to perform basic sorting operations. It can be concluded that the Delta robot obtained after optimization satisfies the workspace and motion performances required, making it applicable to fast, light loading applications like food sorting.