Tenth International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Icsv10 Design and Analysis of a Parallel Mechanism for the Golf Industry

Previous work done in the study of golf club dynamics professes dissatisfaction with robotic testing used to evaluate and compare golf equipment. The main complaint is that the club dynamics measured during a robot swing do not correlate with the same data in a human swing. This paper presents the design and analysis of an alternative to the current robotic testing systems. The viability of a parallel kinematic (two-arm) concept as a robotic testing machine for golf clubs and balls is demonstrated. Human biometric data was used as the basis for determining link geometry as well as motion planning for the swing. Models, simulations, and correlations with human test data were used for validating the design. A demonstration prototype was built to show the interactions and motions of the various components.