The Synthesis of a Stewart Platform for a Specific Workspace with a Genetic Algorithm

The synthesis problem of a 6 SPS Stewart platform with semi regular hexagons is studied in this paper. We present a genetic algorithm approach to synthesize a Stewart platform whose workspace must include a desired workspace with orienting capabilities in a given 3D region. Based on the observation that the constant orientation workspace gets smaller as the given orientations increase, a simple method is presented to describe the workspace with orienting capabilities, which need only search the constant orientation workspaces with the eight sets of extremal orientations of given 3D region and use their common part . To verify the method, a numerical example is given. The GA is used to optimize architectural parameters and obtain a compact manipulator. The method is applied to synthesize a Stewart platform whose workspace must include a prescribed cylinder with orienting capabilities.