Abstract
The world of machine tool is always changing to take into account the changes in manufactured parts. Nowadays, there is a growing need of fast machine tools, in particular for the automotive industry. Serial machines have reached their dynamical limits and the first parallel kinematics machines have been realeased. They are inspired from parallel robots studied by the robotics community during the past 25 years. This work draws a link between the domains of robotics and machine tool. A method for selecting, modelling and optimising parallel kinematics machine tool is proposed. Then this method is applied to solve the problem for fast machine tools with either 3 axis or 5 axis. A new familly of fast parallel kinematics is also introduced. This familly, whose kinematics lies between Delta and Hexa robots, has 4 degrees of freedom. It can be used in robotics for fast pick and place tasks and also for the design of 5 axis parallel machine tools by putting the workpiece on a rotative plate.