This paper presents a new four-degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism dedicated to the handling of heavy parts within a large workspace. These four degrees of freedom are three translations and one rotation about a given axis. Such a mechanism is rare; most common parallel mechanisms have three or six degrees of freedom. Firstly, a description of the mechanism is given. Then models are derived regarding velocity and force transformation as input-output relationships. Finally, internal forces models and a stiffness model are evaluated. All models are embedded in a software module aimed at helping with the preliminary design of machines based on this new architecture.
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