Multiloop Kinematotropic Mechanisms

Starting from single-loop kinematic chains whose pairs present different connectivities when the chains are displaced in different positions, the paper shows how to assemble multiloop chains with numbers of degrees of freedom that change due to continuous variations in the position variables of the chains. This special mobility property is called kinematotropy. The paper provides a method (based on the displacement group theory) to form chains that allow any desired change in the number of degrees of freedom, with a sudden or gradual increment of this number. Several examples are presented and applications are discussed.