An Introduction to Burmester Field Theory

Abstract This paper introduces the Burmester field for motion-generation dyads with four design positions. The Burmester field is the region swept by a Burmester curve as one or more of the design positions varies. The Burmester field’s geometric features are shown to be related to the poles. The most significant feature are anchor poles that remain stationary as the design positions are changed. The envelope of the Burmester field found with the variation of a single design parameter is presented. This work demonstrates that the envelope of the Burmester field consists of segments of Burmester curves and segments found using envelope theory. A number of examples are presented and discussed.