Cable-driven parallel mechanisms: state of the art and perspectives

This paper presents a review of the state of the art in the area of cable-driven parallel mechanisms. The basic kinematic architecture of cable-driven parallel mechanisms is first recalled and the associated kinematic and static model is briefly exposed. Fundamental problems are formulated, including the definition of the wrench matrix, the wrench-closure workspace and the wrench-feasible workspace. Advances that have been made in the determination of such workspaces are reported. The dynamics and control of cable-driven parallel mechanisms are then considered, first for fully constrained cable-driven parallel mechanisms and secondly for cable-suspended parallel mechanisms. Calibration and identification issues are also addressed and various alternative architectures of cable-driven parallel mechanisms are reported. Finally, applications are considered and open issues are mentioned.