Patent ID: 7673537

Claim:
A manipulator for supporting and displacing an object, comprising: a base; a moving portion adapted to support the object; at least two articulated mechanisms each having at least five rotational joints between links, with the axes of each the at least five rotational joints of both the articulated mechanisms all being permanently parallel to one another, with each articulated mechanism being connected to the base by two of said rotational joints, the moving portion being connected to both said articulated mechanisms by moving-portion joints, the articulated mechanisms and moving-portion joints being arranged with respect to each other between the base and the moving portion so as to constrain movement of the moving portion to displacements in two translational degrees of freedom and three rotational degrees of freedom with respect to the base; and at least four actuators being each operatively connected to a different one of the rotational joints between the base and the articulated mechanisms so as to selectively control the displacements of the moving portion in any one of the two translational degrees of freedom and in two of the rotational degrees of freedom of the moving portion.