Catenary model and dynamic analysis of a 6-DOF cable-driven parallel robot

For the catenary effect on the large-scale of 6-DOF cable-driven parallel robot, the straight-line model and the catenary model of the cables were established, respectively, on the basis of which, the dynamic model of the cable-driven parallel robot was derived and the models were compared at the same time. In order to solve the inverse dynamics of the cable-driven parallel robot, a nonlinear optimization method with constraints was chosen to obtain the cable tension that satisfies the force constraints. Simulation experiment demonstrated that when considering the catenary model, the inverse dynamical solution differs noticeably between the straight line model and the catenary model of the parallel robot. Thus the catenary effect cannot be ignored and the catenary model should be considered in the dynamic analysis.