Design and control of a reconfigurable industrial hydraulic robot

Since the advent of robotics, manipulators have, in practice, been confined to specific application areas. This limitation can be attributed to their geometrical and physical characteristics such as having fixed link lengths, fixed angular ranges, relatively large size and mass, and their torque capabilities. This paper describes the design of a heavy-duty hydraulic manipulator, the Guelph Arm, which is uniquely flexible in its applications, …