Achieving compliant spherical linkage designs from compliant planar linkages based on PRBM: A spherical Young mechanism case study

Many studies about the compliant mechanisms has been done and most of them are planar configurations. Spherical linkages, as a transition between planar and spatial linkages, play an important role in the modern precision instruments and robots. In this paper, we explore spherical linkage designs from available compliant planar linkages with a method based on the pseudo-rigid-body model and the rigid-body replacement synthesis approach. A typical Young mechanism is utilized as an illustration, which is called the spherical Young mechanism. The kinetostatic results of the spherical Young mechanism, which have been calculated based on the pseudo-rigid-body method, show that it has bistability behaviors.