How does TRICEPT compare to robots or CNC Machine Tools?
Industrial robots are normally built with a “link over link” design (SKM). The benefits of these articulated mechanisms are based on their flexibility and and ability to transport loads between points within a reasonably large work area. Their bigger disavantage is in the fact that the moving load is supported in turn by each of the links of the robot. This is the reason why industrial robots are usually characterized by low accuracy and low rigidity. CNC Machine Tools are also SKM machines. However, they have a very high requirement for both accuracy and rigidity. In order to achieve such requirements with a SKM structure, CNC Machine Tools are usually designed with very large masses added to each moving axis. At this point accuracy and rigidity are obtained, but flexibility and dynamics are lacked. TRICEPT combines both high flexibility and accuracy with an acceptable rigidity and dynamic response. This can be done because the parallel structure of the tricept permits that the load a
