Welcome to the most comprehensive on-line resource in the field of parallel robots (hexapods, Gough-Stewart platforms, parallel kinematic machines, motion bases, etc.).

What's New? A third Java applet has been added Is there a better simulation program to demonstrate parallel kinematics than these three Java applets? Yet another Delta robot... That the Delta robot is the most successful parallel robot is common knowledge. But this new Delta will finally bring parallel robots to the mass market (some 1000 units already sold). The Falcon is a haptic device available for only $189. The fastest parallel robot Adept Technology released the Quattro, which at 240 cycles per minute is industry's fastest pick-and-place robot. The robot was invented by Dr. François Pierrot and his team, in collaboration with Fatronik. Adept has already sold more than 200 Quattro robots.   ABB will not leave the Quattro unrivaled... After selling over 1800 Delta robots over the years, ABB has just launched a 2nd generation FlexPicker. The new parallel robot (IRB 360) has a smaller footprint and a 4kg payload. Probably the most intriguing 1-DOF parallel robot... Read about the ROBO 003 – an innovative watch winder based on an amazing 1-DOF wobbling three-legged parallel robot. Looks like yet another hexapod but it's not! Read about the Deltapod – an original flexible fixturing by ABB. This is the event you dare not miss! The second Parallel Mechanisms Workshop will take place in Montpellier, France, just before IROS 2008.   It's raining Delta robots... The PacDrive Robot P3 is the latest offspring of the Delta robot democratization. The new Delta is manufactured by ELAU, Schneider Electric’s packaging automation division. The golden age of parallel robots?   ELAU has also launched a 3-axis pick-and-place parallel robot called PacDrive Robot D2. The new robot is obviously a lower-cost alternative to current Deltas (which typically cost $60,000).     A new motion system with only three legs E-Motion 6000 is the latest 3-DOF motion platform developed by Bosch Rexroth. This motion simulatior is a zero-torsion parallel mechanism allowing vertical translation and rotation about horizontal axes. The first "two-mode" three-axes PKM   Simplex now offers a one-of-a-kind three-axes PKM called Simparallel. The new reconfigurable PKM alows one translation and one of two possible rotations. A promising new software package for parallel robots QSpider is a new Russian project for the development of a free software package for simulating mechanisms.

Reference web sites:   Dr. Merlet's Site   Singularities Database

Main reference books: 

	Parallel Robots by J.-P. Merlet.
	Type Synthesis of Parallel Mechanisms by X. Kong and C.M. Gosselin.
	Structural Synthesis of Parallel Robots by G. Gogu.
	Robot Analysis: The Mechanics of Serial and Parallel Manipulators by L.-W. Tsai.
	The Numerical Solution of Systems of Polynomials: Arising in Engineering and Science by Andrew J. Sommese and Charles W. Wampler II.