What is a serial robot?
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.
What are 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.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of parallel robots compared to serial robots?
1. Simply put, a serial robot is like a person holding something with one hand, while a parallel robot is like holding something with both hands.
2. Serial robots have been well-developed and have advantages such as simple structure, low cost, simple control, and large motion space. They have been successfully applied in many fields, such as various machine tools and assembly workshops.
3. Research on parallel robots started later than that on serial robots, and many theoretical problems remain unsolved.
4. Parallel robots possess advantages such as high rigidity, strong load-bearing capacity, high precision, and low end-effector inertia. They offer significant advantages over serial robots in high-speed, high-load-bearing applications. Numerous successful application examples exist, such as motion simulators and delta robots.
Robot Applications
The precision and efficiency of automated equipment systems such as robots and automated storage and retrieval systems are sometimes unattainable by human operation. With the continuous advancement of science and technology, the level of robots worldwide is becoming increasingly higher and more intelligent. They can not only accept human command, but also run pre-programmed programs, and act according to principles and guidelines established using artificial intelligence technology.
So, in which industries and fields are robots mainly used? Like automated warehousing, intelligent control systems, machine vision, and intelligent recognition systems, robots are tasked with assisting or replacing human workers.
Robots are widely used in production and construction fields such as railway and highway tunnels, mine roadways, underground caverns, and oilfield breakwater slope protection projects. In addition, countries around the world are actively researching and exploring the application of robots in fields such as warfare and military.
