AbstractPresented is an analysis of the kinematics and the inverse dynamics of a proposed three degree of freedom (dof) parallel manipulator resembling the Stewart platform in a general form. In the kinematic analysis, the inverse kinematics, velocity, and acceleration analyses are performed, respectively, using vector analysis and general homogeneous transformations. An algorithm to solve the inverse dynamics of the proposed parallel manipulator is then presented using a Lagrangian technique. In this case, it is found that one should introduce and subsequently eliminate Lagrange multipliers to arrive at the governing equations. Numerical examples are finally carried out to examine the validity of the approach and the accuracy of the numerical technique employed. The trajectory of motion of the manipulator is also performed using a cubic spline. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.