Editing Industrial robot (section)

=== Parallel architecture ===
A parallel manipulator is designed so that each chain is usually short, simple and can thus be rigid against unwanted movement, compared to a [[serial manipulator]]. Errors in one chain's positioning are averaged in conjunction with the others, rather than being cumulative. Each actuator must still move within its own [[Degrees of freedom (mechanics)|degree of freedom]], as for a serial robot; however in the parallel robot the off-axis flexibility of a joint is also constrained by the effect of the other chains. It is this [[Control theory#Closed-loop transfer function|closed-loop]] stiffness that makes the overall parallel manipulator stiff relative to its components, unlike the serial chain that becomes progressively less rigid with more components.