An Alternative Method for Shaking Force Balancing of the 3RRR PPM through Acceleration Control of the Center of Mass

The problem of shaking force balancing of robotic manipulators, which allows the elimination or substantial reduction of the variable force transmitted to the fixed frame, has been traditionally solved by optimal mass redistribution of the moving links. The resulting configurations have been achieved by adding counterweights, by adding auxiliary structures or, by modifying the form of the links from the early design phase. This leads to an increase in the mass of the elements of the mechanism, which in turn leads to an increment of the torque transmitted to the base (the shaking moment) and of the driving torque. Thus, a balancing method that avoids the increment in mass is very desirable. In this article, the reduction of the shaking force of robotic manipulators is proposed by the optimal trajectory planning of the common center of mass of the system, which is carried out by “bang-bang” profile. This allows a considerable reduction in shaking forces without requiring counterweights, additional structures, or changes in form. The method, already presented in the literature, is resumed in this case using a direct and easy to automate modeling technique based on fully Cartesian coordinates. This permits to express the common center of mass, the shaking force, and the shaking moment of the manipulator as simple analytic expressions. The suggested modeling procedure and balancing technique are illustrated through the balancing of the 3RRR planar parallel manipulator (PPM). Results from computer simulations are reported.