ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Five-bar linkage

Imagine you have a toy robot with a rectangular body and two arms coming out from the sides. Now, if you want the robot to move its arms in a certain way, you will need to connect them to the body with some sort of mechanism. This is where a five-bar linkage comes in.

A five-bar linkage is a type of mechanical linkage that connects two moving parts with five rigid rods or bars. In our case, the body of the robot and its arms would be connected with five bars arranged in a certain pattern. This pattern is critical because it determines how the robot's arms will move when the body is moved.

To put it simply, when one bar in the linkage is moved, it causes all of the other bars to move in a specific way. For a five-bar linkage, there are certain configurations that can create various motions, such as oscillating, rotating, or translating.

Five-bar linkages are commonly used in machines that require precise motion control, such as robotic arms, industrial machinery, and even cars (for example, in the suspension system). They are also used in some toys and games that require complex movements, such as a pinball machine or a mini-golf obstacle course.

Overall, a five-bar linkage is a clever way of connecting two parts of a machine to achieve a specific motion. By using rigid bars in a specific pattern, engineers can create complex and precise movements that would be difficult to achieve with other types of mechanisms.