An approach for calculating the effective workspaces of parallel mechanisms has been considered in this paper. The effective workspace is a set of reachable by the end-effector points, where an important parameter (or parameters) from the point of view of operation is not higher than critical. In this article, the speed and torque in the drive and the stiffness of the mechanism are considered as such parameters. An approach to determining the appropriate effective workspace is presented for each parameter. The optimization process, which is based on presented methods, allows one to choose basic technical solutions of the designed robot: the links (lengths and cross-sections), the drives, and types of hinges, which guarantee its operability at the specified operational characteristics. Case studies of a delta robot with four degrees of freedom and a planar five-bar mechanism are presented for testing these approaches. The presented methods are of great practical importance because it uses movement parameters or operational characteristics that are decisive for this mechanism and have clear physical meaning.

An approach for calculating the maximum possible absolute values of joint velocities or generalized reactions in a leg of a parallel mechanism has been considered in this paper. The Jacobian analysis and the Screw theory-based methods have been used to acquire the result. These values are calculated for the “worst” directions of the external load or end-effector’s velocity for each leg. The feasibility of using these parameters as the measures of closeness to different types of parallel mechanism singularity is discussed. Further, how this approach is related to the state-of-the-art methods has been illustrated. The key aspect of the discussed approach is that the normalization of vectors or screws is carried out separately for angular and linear components. One possible advantage of such an approach is that it deals only with the kinematic and statics of the mechanism while still providing physically meaningful and practically applicable measures. Case studies of a 3-Degrees Of Freedom translational parallel mechanism and a planar parallel mechanism are presented for illustration and comparison.