Evaluation of resolution of flexure parallel mechanisms for ultraprecision manipulation

A method for evaluating the resolution of ultraprecision manipulation systems based on the flexure parallel mechanism (FPM) is presented. The resolution of the open-loop system is theoretically determined by the resolution transmission from the actuated joints to the end-effector and the resolution of actuators. The method studies the definition of the resolution indicators that includes the global resolution transmission scale and the uniformity of resolution over the entire workspace of the flexure mechanism. The computational algorithm for the defined resolution indicators is established based on the sampling method. For illustration, the evaluation method is employed to gauge the resolution performance of a two-degree-of-freedom and a three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) planar FPM. To demonstrate its application for optimal design, we use this method for the development of a 3-DOF spatial translational FPM. An experiment is carried out to determine the resolution and the repeatability of the developed FPM and verify the proposed evaluation method. The result shows that the method is suitable for the design of FPM for any desired resolution