Joint space-based optimal measurement configuration determination method for Stewart platform kinematics calibration

•A simple dimensionless error model is derived based on the geometrical characteristics of the studied Stewart platform, and a novel method for measurement configurations selected based on the joint space is proposed in the kinematic calibration experiment, which taking the condition number of the error Jacobian matrix as an observation index.•The pose accuracy of Stewart platform was greatly improved after kinematic calibration. The maximum position and orientation errors by the proposed method decreased by 4% and 9%, respectively, and the average errors decreased by 5% and 11%, respectively, relative to that of the uniform selection method. Therefore, the kinematic calibration of Stewart platform can be obtained better accurate based on the proposed method.•The actual measurement configurations are measured by an AICON 3D system – MoveInspect XR is demonstrated.