SpiderArm Robot: Hybrid Cable-Driven Robot with Serial Manipulator

Hybrid Cable-Driven Serial Robots (HCSRs) are a type of cable-driven robot where a serial manipulator is attached to the cable-driven robot's end-effector. This type of robot aims to combine the advantages of both types of robots: ability to reach large spaces of a cable-driven robot and the dexterity/range of orientation of serial robots.
Credits: Ding Chan, Crystal Mok and Mathew Ma

[@tomahan044]

I had some practical questions but I'm glad to see other people already asked these and got some great truthful responses. Makes a man happy as this is rare in RUclips these days

[@cuhkc3roboticslaboratory443]

Thanks!

[@rodstartube]

Useful for anything than high precision applications. You can see how the drill tip bounces after spider moves. Very interesting as concept, but not practical at all. Maybe replace those cables by rods like Delta Robots or a mutation between ;)

[@cuhkc3roboticslaboratory443]

Hi! The idea of our lab is to conduct the research and improve control strategies such that the accuracy and force control is sufficient for applications such as construction works.
We hope to use cable robots so that we can have a large scale robot in this form (like 10m +). But of course if there's any hybrid mutations that can improve the system we would try it out! Thanks!!

[@rodstartube]

@@cuhkc3roboticslaboratory443 Ok, i get it. Something I noted in the video, but forgot to comment, is that the bouncing is because of the skinny aluminum frame. I would suggest and try a sturdier metal structure, or attaching pulleys to the walls of the room ;)

[@cuhkc3roboticslaboratory443]

@@rodstartube Yes, Thanks! The aluminium frame is indeed not sturdy enough for real applications =) In our real applications we do have to go to stronger frames or direct attachment to the walls/roof/floor...

[@Dr_Dauid]

Nice background music

[@peterbus8005]

Nice work! What kind of hardware setup do you use? How do you control the cable robot?

[@cuhkc3roboticslaboratory443]

Thanks! This setup is using servo motors with an 8-axis CNC controller connected, and we use our software CASPR to compute the kinematics to command the robot.

[@juraj3315]

Tbh this is a very wasteful robot. Considering that the arm itself has 6 DOF there is no reason to mount it on a cable robot that has 6 DOF on its own.
Also, while the cable robot has great kinematic properties it is by no means as rigid as the arm.

[@cuhkc3roboticslaboratory443]

The main purpose or reason is that a robot arm has limited physical reach (otherwise it would be a huge arm) and a cable robot has limited workspace and dexterity (particularly in orientation). So it is a type of combination of advantages such that it has dexterity, simplicity and can operate in large spaces. But of course it is suitable for particular applications and may not be for all applications =)