Task Oriented Linkage Design

Mechanical intelligence as opposed to electrical intelligence requires far less energy for its function due to the reduce number of actuators required. The ability to design minimally actuated mechanical systems, such as the Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests (Beach Animals), defines the boundary of inventive opportunities for a more sustainable solution. However, many of such designs are one off and relies a lot on the designer intuition. My research in this field seeks to develop the synthesis methods and computational tools for the systematic design of such intelligent mechanical systems leveraging on kinematic principles.

We have developed task-oriented computer-aided design tools at the conceptual level that deals with both type and dimensional synthesis of multi-loop mechanism.  We are able to leverage on parallel computing technology to compute, search through the design space and utilise assessment metrices to rank them for further evaluation.

54412_478069928465_1593270_o

Computer-Aided Design using ROS

Exemplifier Mechanisms

   

Also see our current work on Anthropomorphic Mechanism.

Publications

  • G. S. Soh, A. Perez, and J. M. McCarthy, “The Kinematic Synthesis of Mechancially Constrained Planar 3R Chains”, Proceedings of the first European Conference on Mechanism Science(EUCOMES), Obergurgl, Austria, 2006.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Synthesis of Mechanically Constrained Planar N-R Serial Chain Robots”, Advances in Robot Kinematics: Mechanisms and Motion, pp. 395-402, Springer, 2006.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Synthesis of Mechanically Constrained Planar 2-RRR Planar Parallel Robots”, Proceedings of the 12th IFToMM World Congress, Besancon, France, 2007.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Synthesis of Constrained nR Planar Robots to Reach Five Task Positions”, Proceedings of Robotics: Science and System, Altanta, USA, 2007.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Assessment Criteria for Conceptual Design of Six Bar Linkages”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, Las Vegas, USA, 2007.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “The Synthesis of Six-Bar Linkages as Constrained Planar 3R Chains”, Mechanism Machine Theory, 43(2):160-170, 2008.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Synthesis and Analysis of a Constrained Spherical Parallel Manipulator”, Advances in Robot Kinematics: Analysis and Design, pp. 101-110, Springer, 2008.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Five Position Synthesis of Spherical Six-Bar Linkages”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, New York, USA, 2008.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Parametric Design of a Spherical Eight-Bar Linkage based on a Spherical Parallel Manipulator”, ASME Journal of Mechanism and Robotics, 1(1):011004, 2008.
  • G. S. Soh and J. M. McCarthy, “Seven Position Synthesis of a Spatial Eight-Bar Linkage by Constraining a TRS Serial Chain”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, San Deigo, USA, 2009.
  • J. Choe, D. L. Li, G. S. Soh, J. M. McCarthy, “Synthesis of a 10-Bar Driver for Planar Scale Change Linkages”, Proceedings of the ASME/IFToMM International Conference onReconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots, London, UK, 2009.
  • J. M. McCarthy and G. S. Soh, “Geometric Design of Linkages, Second Edition”, Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics 11, Springer, New York, 2010.
  • G. S. Soh, F. T. Ying and J. M. McCarthy, “Dimensional Synthesis of Planar Six-Bar Linkages by Mechanically Constrain a PRR Serial Chain”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, Chicago, USA, 2012.
  • G. S. Soh and F. T. Ying, “Dimensional Synthesis of Planar Eight-bar Linkages based on a Parallel Robot with a Prismatic Joint”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, Portland, USA, 2013.
  • G. S. Soh, “Rigid Body Guidance of Human Gait as Constrained TRS Serial Chain”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, Buffalo, USA, 2014.
  • G. S. Soh and F. T. Ying, “Motion Generation of Planar Six and Eight-Bar Slider Mechanisms as Constrained Robotic Systems”, ASME Journal of Mechanism and Robotics, 7(3):031018, 2015.