Elastostatic Modeling and Shape Optimization of a 6-DOF Haptic Interface Device

This paper deals with the shape optimization of a six degree-of-freedom haptic interface device. This six-dof epicyclic-parallel manipulator has all actuators located on the ground. A regular dexterous workspace is introduced to represent the mobility of user’s hand. Throughout this workspace, the deviation of the mobile platform is bounded to provide a better feeling to the user and the masses in motion are minimized to increase the transparency of the haptic device. The stiffness model is written using a virtual joint method and compared with the results obtained with the finite element analysis to be validated. Finally, the shape of the links are optimized in order to minimize the masses in motion while guaranteeing a given stiffness throughout the regular workspace of the mechanism.