Robust Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanical Systems with the Configuration Space Method

We describe a framework for robust kinematic design based on tolerance analysis and parametric design via configuration space manipulation. The input is a parametric model of a planar mechanical system comprised of lower and higher kinematic pairs in open or closed loops. The robust synthesis task is to find a nominal design that functions correctly despite small parameter variations. This task has quantitative and qualitative subtasks. We present algorithms for both subtasks and illustrate them on engineering applications. These are the first general algorithms for these tasks; prior work in the field is limited to lower pairs and to a few custom higher pairs.