A Three Degree of Freedom Parallel Manipulator with Only Translational Degrees of Freedom

In this dissertation, a novel parallel manipulator is investigated. The manipulator has three degrees of freedom and the moving platform is constrained to only translational motion. The main advantages of this parallel manipulator are that all of the actuators can be attached directly to the base, closed-form solutions are available for the forward kinematics, the moving platform maintains the same orientation throughout the entire workspace, and it can be constructed with only revolute joints.