Workspaces
There are various types of workspace in the
done works, among which the most usual ones are as follows
[9]: (1) Constant orientation workspace: The set of locations
that can be reached by the reference point C with a given orientation;
(2) orientation workspace: The set of orientations
that can be reached while the reference point C is in a fixed
location; (3) maximal workspace: The set of locations that can
be reached by the reference point C with at least one orientation
of the platform; (4) inclusive orientation workspace: all
the locations of the reference point C that may be reached with
at least one orientation among a set defined by ranges on the
orientation angles; (5) dexterous workspace: all the locations
of the reference point P for which all orientations are possible;
(6) total orientation workspace: all the locations of the reference
point P that may be reached with all the orientations
among a set defined by ranges on the orientation angles.
Various approaches have been proposed to determine the
workspaces of parallel mechanisms such as analytic, geometric
and numerical approaches.