Variable Geometry Truss Robot

This one of a kind robot was originally designed to work as a mobile platform for another dexterous robot placed on the end.  This robot has an amazing carrying capacity, approximately 2200 pounds at the end effector.    More impressive than the robot's carrying capacity is its incredible stiffness.  At maximum load there is nearly no measurable deflection at the output.   From early experimentation designers learned that more deflection occurred in the steel I-beam base than in the actual robot.  Despite its amazing strength and stiffness this robot does have several drawbacks.  First, it has a limited dexterity.   Second, being both a parallel and serial robot at the same time, the kinematics for its motion are extremely complex.