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Type synthesis of mechanisms aims to systematically determine all possible structures for a specific mobility requirement. Numerous methods based on different theories were proposed for type synthesis of lower mobility parallel mechanisms in past decades. However, there does not exist a comprehensive review on these approaches. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to give such a review, classifying the approaches proposed in the literature into three groups, namely, motion-based methods, constraint-based methods, and other methods. The motion-based methods include the Lie group based method, the G F set method, the linear transformation method, the POC set method, and the finite screw method. The constraint-based methods involve the screw theory-based method, the virtual chain method, the method based on Grassmann line geometry and line graphs, and the motion constraint generator method. Other methods contain the enumeration approach based on the general CGK mobility formula and the graph theory method. Upon thoroughly analyzing the characteristics and/or limitations of each method, this review provides a well reference to help researchers find an effective synthesis method for innovative design and further scientific investigations for mechanisms.

This chapter briefly introduces the history of group theory first, and then presents the concept of group, subgroup, and Lie group. Finally, geometry in nonrelativistic mechanics is presented.

Lower mobility parallel mechanisms can be sorted into nine categories according to their kinds of mobility. Most of the proposed synthesis methods cannot be applied to all nine categories. An exception is the constraint-synthesis method based on screw theory. However, the constraint-synthesis method belongs to the instantaneous motion field because the screw is instantaneous. An indispensable step of that method is to identify if the synthesized mechanism is only instantaneous or not, which sometimes is rather difficult for some complicated architectures. To overcome this problem, this chapter aims to propose a universally effective type synthesis method based on the Lie group theory in the finite motion field.

Parallel mechanisms (PMs) having the same motion characteristic with a UP kinematic chain (U denotes a universal joint, and P denotes a prismatic joint) are called UP-equivalent PMs. They can be used in many applications, such as machining and milling. However, the existing UP-equivalent PMs suffer from the disadvantages of strict assembly requirements and limited rotational capability. Type synthesis of UP-equivalent PMs with high rotational capability is presented. The special 2R1T motion is briefly discussed and the fact that the parallel module of the Exechon robot is not a UP-equivalent PM is disclosed. Using the Lie group theory, the kinematic bonds of limb chains and their mechanical generators are presented. Structural conditions for constructing such UP-equivalent PMs are proposed, which results in numerous new architectures of UP-equivalent PMs. The high rotational capability of the synthesized mechanisms is illustrated by an example. The advantages of no strict assembly requirements and high rotational capability of the newly developed PMs will facilitate their applications in the manufacturing industry.

The use of lower mobility parallel manipulators with less than six degrees of freedom (DOFs) has drawn a lot of interest in the area of parallel robots. In this paper, the type synthesis of 3R2T 5-DOF parallel mechanisms (PMs) is performed systematically using the Lie group of displacements, where R denotes a rotational DOF, and T denotes a translational DOF. First, some necessary theoretical fundamentals about the displacement group are recalled. Then, a general approach is proposed for the type synthesis of 3R2T 5-DOF PMs. The limb kinematic chains, which produce the desired displacement manifolds, are synthesized and enumerated. Structural conditions, which guarantee that the intersection of the displacement manifolds generated by the limb is the desired 5-DOF manifold, are presented. An exhaustive enumeration of 3R2T 5-DOF symmetrical PMs is obtained. Finally, an input selection method is proposed.