Abstract: A new method, truss inference method, is presented for parallel robot configuration creative design. When actuated joints are locked, a parallel robot becomes a truss with 0-DOF. So a parallel robot is combination of driving pairs and a truss. The proposed method includes three main steps: Selects appropriate parallel robot truss with 0 degree of freedom and inference rules considering design requirements; Generates a series of configurations available by truss inference; Finally obtain novel parallel robot configurations by further analysis and decision. Key techniques, such as truss and inference rules, are detailed discussed. A design cases are given to illuminate the proposed method.

Key words: Configuration design, Creative design, Parallel robot, Truss