Patent ID: 7331750

Claim:
A mechanism for positioning and orienting an object in space with at least three degrees of freedom, the mechanism comprising: a base; a main arm, said main arm comprising a platform rotatably mounted to said base and allowed to rotate about a central axis, an end component for supporting said object, linkage means interposed between said platform and said end component, said linkage means allowing said end component two and only two translational degrees of freedom with respect to said platform and retaining the inclination of said end component with respect to said central axis for all positions and orientations of said end component, and an actuator for influencing one of said translational degrees of freedom of said end component; and a first and a second support arm, each of said first and second support arm comprising an actuator arm rotatably connected to said base, an actuator for rotating said actuator arm relative to said base about a respective first and second actuator axis, and a forearm movably connected to said actuator arm, wherein the forearms of said first and said second support arm are movably connected to said main arm and capable of fully supporting said main arm and said end component, so that said first and said second support arm influence the position and orientation of said end component.