摘要：The kinematic design issue of Gough-Stewart platforms is investigated. Based upon a full understanding of the geometrical characteristics of workspace boundary, a spherically-shaped prescribed workspace having a given orientation capability is defined for the synthesis of a well behaved workspace. Two performance measures are presented, i.e. the local dexterity and workspace radius ratio. The dimensions of the platform are determined with a prior knowledge of how the design parameters affect the dexterity and workspace radius ratio, resulting in an optimal design in terms of these performance indices. An example of application to the kinematic design of a hexapod machine tool is given to illustrate the effectiveness of this approach.