Abstract
The mobility (degree of freedom) of mechanisms can be regarded as independent coordinate to define its position. This concept is essential for kinematics, and for designing mechanisms in the practical point of view. Gruebler's equation has been applied to estimate the mobility using number of links and joints of a mechanism. In practical case, there are many types of mechanisms, which transfer motion by direct contact between two links. However, no exact kinematic definition has existed for the joint that the contact takes place in a mechanism. In this paper, a new concept of contact joint is defined and modified Gruebler's equation is suggested to calculate mobility of a mechanism with the joint. This concept would be useful in mechanism design because it will be possible to manage many contact mechanisms with kinematic exactness.
