This thesis presents the foundation of a computer program
for the unified design of spatial mechanisms. The program
will be capable of synthesizing any mechanism that can be
described using an equivalent chain containing only revolute
and prismatic joints. The supporting analysis routine will
be general and will be able to analyze any lower pair
mechanism using the iterative approach developed by Sheth
and Uicker [1972].
Unlike precision point synthesis methods that allow only a
limited number of positions to be specified, optimization
will be employed to synthesize a wide variety of mechanisms
. This approach will allow the user to interactively
monitor and control objectives and constraints, which
will yield practical solutions to realistic mechanism
design problems.
The creation of this program will provide practicing
engineers with the capacity to design many previously
intractable spatial mechanisms.
