Abstract: The workspace of a parallel mechanism has generally irregular boundary. In applications, however, operation tasks typically require the workspace to have regular geometric shape and satisfy given force/moment generation requirements. Such a workspace is referred to as a taskspace herein. Aiming at cable-driven parallel mechanisms, method for determining the maximum taskspace is investigated. Based on interval analysis theory, a novel algorithm to address this problem is proposed. Taking a planar 3-DOF cable-driven parallel mechanism as an example, a numerical analysis example is presented for the determination of the maximum square taskspace. Further, the relationship between side length of the maximum square taskspace and orientation angle of the moving platform as well as the relationship between the side length and the generated force/moment are analyzed. It is found that the side length of this maximum square taskspace decreases almost linearly as the orientation angle of the moving platform or the generated force/moment increases.

Key words: workspace;taskspace;cable-driven parallel mechanism;interval analysis