Daniel F. Scharler

Thomas Stigger, Johannes Siegele, Daniel F. Scharler et al.

The aim of this paper is to give a detailed examination of the input and output singularities of a 3-RUU parallel manipulator in the translational operation mode. This task is achieved by using algebraic constraint equations. For this type of manipulator a complete workspace representation in Study coordinates is presented after elimination of the input parameters. Both, input and output singularities are mapped into a Study subspace as well as into the joint space. Therewith a detailed singularity investigation of the translational operation mode of a 3-RUU parallel manipulator is provided. This paper is an extended version of a previous publication. The addendum comprises the discovery of a possible transition between two operation modes as well as a self motion and an examination of another component of the output singularity surface, most of them for arbitrary design parameters.

Johannes Siegele, Daniel F. Scharler, Hans-Peter Schröcker

The trajectories of a rational motion given by a polynomial of degree n in the dual quaternion model of rigid body displacements are generically of degree 2n. In this article we study those exceptional motions whose trajectory degree is lower. An algebraic criterion for this drop of degree is existence of certain right factors, a geometric criterion involves one of two families of rulings on an invariant quadric. Our characterizations allow the systematic construction of rational motions with exceptional degree reduction and explain why the trajectory degrees of a rational motion and its inverse motion can be different.

Tudor-Dan Rad, Daniel F. Scharler, Hans-Peter Schröcker

We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for admissible transformations in the projectivised dual quaternion model of rigid body displacements and we characterise constraint varieties of dyads with revolute and prismatic joints in this model. Projective transformations induced by coordinate changes in moving and/or fixed frame fix the quadrics of a pencil and preserve the two families of rulings of an exceptional three-dimensional quadric. The constraint variety of a dyad with two revolute joints is a regular ruled quadric in a three-space that contains a "null quadrilateral". If a revolute joint is replaced by a prismatic joint, this quadrilateral collapses into a pair of conjugate complex null lines and a real line but these properties are not sufficient to characterise such dyads. We provide a complete characterisation by introducing a new invariant, the "fiber projectivity", and we present examples that demonstrate its potential to explain hitherto not sufficiently well understood phenomena.