serial robots
A serial robot is an open kinematic chain robot, consisting of a series of links connected by rotary or locating joints. Actuators drive the movement of each joint, thereby influencing the relative movement of the links and bringing the end-effector welding torch to the appropriate position.
Parallel robots
Parallel robots are closed-loop robots whose moving and fixed platforms are connected by at least two independent kinematic chains, and whose mechanisms have two or more degrees of freedom and are driven in parallel.
Parallel robots and traditional industrial serial robots complement each other in application. Parallel robots are closed motion chains. Compared with serial robots, they are generally composed of upper and lower motion platforms and two or more motion branches. The motion platforms and motion branches form one or more closed-loop mechanisms. By changing the motion state of each branch, the entire mechanism has multiple operable degrees of freedom.
The difference between serial and parallel robots
I. Different structures
1. Serial robot: It consists of highly rigid rods connected by joints. Except for the rods at both ends, which can only be connected to the front or rear rods, each rod is connected to the rods in front and behind it by joints.
2. Parallel Robot: A closed-loop mechanism in which the moving platform and the fixed platform are connected by at least two independent kinematic chains, the mechanism has two or more degrees of freedom, and is driven in parallel.
II. Different Characteristics
1. Serial robots: require reducers; different drive powers and different motor models; motors are located on the moving parts and have large inertia; forward solution is simple, inverse solution is complex.
2. Parallel robots: No reducer required, lower cost; all drive power is the same, easy to productize; motors are located on the frame, low inertia; simple inverse kinematics, easy to control in real time.
III. Different Application Scenarios
1. Serial robots: They are used in many fields, such as various machine tools and assembly workshops.
2. Parallel robots: mainly used in precision and compact applications, with competition focusing on speed, repeatability, and dynamic performance.
