The mechanical structure known as Stewart–Gough platform is the most representative parallel robot with a wide variety of applications in many areas. Despite the intensive study on the kinematics, dynamics, and control of the Stewart–Gough platform, many details about these topics are still a challenging problem. In this work, the use of automatic dynamic analysis of multibody systems software for the kinematic and dynamic analysis of the Stewart–Gough platform is proposed. Moreover, a co-simulation automatic dynamic analysis of multibody systems (ADAMS)-MATLAB is developed for motion control of the Stewart–Gough platform end-effector. This computational approach allows the numerical solution for the kinematics, dynamics, and motion control of the Stewart–Gough platform and a considerable reduction on the analytical and programming effort. The obtained results in the three topics (kinematics, dynamics, and control) are validated by comparing them with analytical results reported in the literature. This kind of computational approach allows for the creation of virtual prototypes and saves time and resources in the development of Stewart–Gough platform-based robots applications.

For years, one of the main challenges for teachers of the automatic control courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels has been breaking the barrier between the strong mathematical content of these courses and the practice of applying such knowledge to real systems. Some students envision automatic control courses as a set of abstract mathematics, and even when they understand how to solve textbook problems, few students assimilate how to apply this knowledge to real systems or grasp the true importance of such courses in various branches of engineering [1], [2]. To try to address these issues, some researchers have exerted considerable effort to make the understanding of some advanced automatic control concepts more accessible from the mathematical point of view using graphical or tabular concepts that can be handled in any basic control course [3]?[5]. Recently, with advances in computer technology, numerical simulation tools have also been widely used to facilitate the teaching-learning process in the automatic control area [6]?[8].