Structural Synthesis of Platform Type Manipulators via Connection-Based Adjacency Matrix: Preliminary Automated Topology Sketching
摘要
The structural synthesis of platform-type manipulators is a critical phase in the design of mechanisms aiming specific tasks. Previous work based on Connection-based Adjacency Matrix (CAM) introduced to mathematical definitions to structures in order to automate the generation of unique coarse topologies, however the results were only numerical with absence of graphical output. This study presents the visualization algorithm by introducing a preliminary automated topology sketching methodology integrated with the CAM framework. In order to generate graphical representations of coarse topologies, the proposed algorithm interprets the connectivity data of the adjacency matrix that distinguishes between ground, platforms, hinges, and branches with the nature of CAM. The procedure is validated through case studies covering Alizade’s direct and Gezgin’s inverse structural synthesis approaches as well as manually given CAMs. By providing a direct visual translation of the mathematical synthesis results, the proposed tool enables designers to efficiently navigate through extensive solution spaces and identify appropriate topologies for further dimensional design.