Inertia parameter identification using a Stewart platform

This paper presents the design of an experiment for determining the inertial parameters of rigid bodies (center of mass location and inertia tensor). An appropriate measurement (low uncertainty and low time-consuming) of these properties is very important for product testing and for the development of accurate dynamic models for simulation and control. Our research proposes the use of a parallel robot (Stewart Platform) to determine the location of the center of mass and the inertia tensor. The center of mass is determined by tilting the body in different orientations, and measuring the resulting forces and moments on a 6-axis load cell. The identification of the inertia tensor is done by generating a 3-D motion of the body and measuring the forces and moments, as well as the angular velocity of the system. The paper presents the development and verification of the dynamic model, the design of the experiments based on the equations of motion, and a study on the workspace of the platform. At the end of the paper some simulations and preliminary experimental results are shown.