A New Agile Actuation System of a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot

Cable-driven Parallel Robots (CDPRs) offer a wider range of workspace compared to rigid-link parallel robots. These robots are equipped with an actuation system that satisfies some requirements, such as having low inertia and a negligible amount of friction. These two criteria lead to the agility definition of a system. On the other hand, winch-drum actuation systems should be able to wind the cable properly, in a way it does not be wound on itself. In this paper, an innovative winch-drum actuation system with a universal joint module is designed and fabricated for a CDPR. The winch-drum module is equipped with a power screw module which allows the cable to be wound properly around the drum and the universal joint module allows the cable to accordingly orient within the workspace. To validate the proposed designated system, it is experimentally evaluated in two control scenarios; i.e. reaching a set point and path tracking task The results show that the proposed actuation system fulfills the desired criteria and has the potential to be implemented in any other CDPR.