Patent ID: 6997669

Claim:
A manipulator for receiving and displacing an object, comprising: a base; a moving portion, adapted to receive the object; four articulated support legs each extending between the moving portion and the base for supporting the moving portion, each of the articulated support legs being connected to the base by a first R-joint with axes of the first R-joints being parallel to one another, and with sequentially second, third, fourth and fifth R-joints connecting the first R-joints to the moving portion, with axes of the fifth R-joints not all being coplanar, the articulated support legs being topologically equivalent to one another with respect to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth R-joints, the articulated support legs being arranged with respect to one another between the base and the moving portion so as to restrict movement of the moving portion to three translational degrees of freedom and one rotational degree of freedom; and four angular actuators being each operatively connected to a different one of the R-joints for controlling the movement of the moving portion in any one of the three translational degrees of freedom and the one rotational degree of freedom.