Stewart platform

A Stewart platform is a type of parallel manipulator that has six prismatic actuators, commonly hydraulic jacks or electric linear actuators, attached in pairs to three positions on the platform's baseplate, crossing over to three mounting points on a top plate. All 12 connections are made via universal joints. Devices placed on the top plate can be moved in the six degrees of freedom in which it is possible for a freely-suspended body to move: three linear movements x, y, z (lateral, longitudinal, and vertical), and the three rotations (pitch, roll, and yaw).

Stewart platforms are known by various other names. In many applications, including in flight simulators, it is commonly referred to as a motion base.^[1] It is sometimes called a six-axis platform or 6-DoF platform because of its possible motions and, because the motions are produced by a combination of movements of multiple actuators, it may be referred to as a synergistic motion platform, due to the synergy (mutual interaction) between the way that the actuators are programmed. Because the device has six actuators, it is often called a hexapod (six legs) in common usage, a name which was originally trademarked by Geodetic Technology^[2] for Stewart platforms used in machine tools.^[3]