A parallel manipulator is a mechanical system that uses several computer-controlled serial chains to support a single platform, or end-effector. Perhaps, the best known parallel manipulator is formed from six linear actuators that support a movable base for devices such as flight simulators. This device is called a Stewart platform or the Gough-Stewart platform in recognition of the engineers who first designed and used them.[1]
Also known as parallel robots, or generalized Stewart platforms (in the Stewart platform, the actuators are paired together on both the basis and the platform), these systems are articulated robots that use similar mechanisms for the movement of either the robot on its base, or one or more manipulator arms. Their 'parallel' distinction, as opposed to a serial manipulator, is that the end effector (or 'hand') of this linkage (or 'arm') is directly connected to its base by a number of (usually three or six) separate and independent linkages working simultaneously. No geometrical parallelism is implied.
- ^ Merlet, J.P. (2008). Parallel Robots, 2nd Edition. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4020-4132-7.