Research on Kinematics and Pouring Law of a Mobile Heavy Load Pouring Robot

In order to meet the requirement of continuous pouring in many varieties and small batches in casting production, a mobile heavy load pouring robot is developed based on a new 4-UPU parallel mechanism due to its strong carrying capacity. Firstly, the instantaneous motion characteristics of the novel 4-UPU parallel mechanism with four degrees of freedom (DOF) are analyzed using screw theory. By using the geometric method, both the forward and inverse kinematic solutions of the proposed robot system are given out. Secondly, based on a common pouring ladle, the volume change of pouring liquid in pouring process and the relationship between tilting angular velocity and flow rate are analyzed, and the results show that the shape of the ladle and the design of the pouring mouth have great influence on the tilting model. It is an important basis for the division of the sectional model. Finally, a numerical example is given to verify the effectiveness of the developed tilting model. The mapping relation between the tilting model and the parallel mechanism shows that the pouring flow can be adjusted by controlling the movement of parallel manipulator. The research of this paper provides an important theoretical basis for the position control of mobile heavy load pouring robot and the research of pouring speed control.