Dynamically-Feasible Trajectories for a Cable-Suspended Robot Performing Throwing Operations

In this paper, we analyze a spatial 3-degree-of-freedom cable-driven robot with a point-mass end-effector suspended by 3 cables. The kinematic and dynamic behaviour of this robot was investigated in previous works, in particular, the possibility of taking advantage of inertia forces on the end-effector to enlarge the robot workspace. Here, we propose to use this highly dynamic robot as a robotic sling, in order to perform throwing operations: the end-effector uses a gripper to carry an object, and the gripper opens at a suitable instant in order to launch the object towards a given target point. The mathematical model and results from numerical simulations are presented.