MotionGen Pro is a web-based app for N-bar linkage mechanisms simulation, synthesis, and analysis. This lesson references MotionGen Pro version only, which runs in a browser. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox are recommended.

We also have a mobile app called MotionGen available in the app stores, but it synthesizes and simulates only four-bar mechanisms. You can download it on your phone or tablet optionally.

First, please go to http://motiongen.io and register. Check your email confirmation in spam folder if it does not show up in your inbox.

Take a look at the following robots and ask yourself how did the designer design the mechanisms that makes these robot move?

What is common to all these robots is that they all use a linkage-based mechanism. A linkage based mechanism is an interconnected system of levers with joints such as rotary and sliding. Some of the advantages of these mechanisms are that they are closed-loop, which provides structural rigidity, and generally need the smallest number of actuators to drive them.

MotionGen Manual