Parallel manipulators are generally associated with high speed, stiffness, and repeatability. Nonetheless, after decades of development, their industrial uptake is still limited when compared to serial architectures. In this paper, we investigate the reasons behind this gap between parallel machine tool potential and real-case applications with a critical analysis of the state of the art. This paper aims to provide machine tool users with the understanding of the functional and technological characteristics of parallel manipulators, as well as to help roboticists approach machining applications with an in-depth perspective and a curated collection of references. We outline fundamental modeling tools for parallel mechanisms and then explain how they can be applied to the development, optimization, and performance evaluation of machine tools, with a focus on kinematic and dynamic metrics, error analysis, and calibration. We then discuss the evolution of parallel machine tools in industry, highlighting successful designs and commercial applications. Finally, we provide our perspective of the field, summarizing the main characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of parallel machine tools, highlighting the barriers preventing a more widespread implementation of these systems, outlining current research trends, and identifying potential future developments.

并联机械手通常与高速、刚度和可重复性相关。尽管如此，经过几十年的发展，与串行架构相比，它们的工业应用仍然有限。在本文中，我们通过对现有技术的批判性分析，研究了并行机床潜力与实际应用之间差距背后的原因。本文旨在帮助机床用户了解并联机械手的功能和技术特征，并帮助机器人专家以深入的视角和精选的参考资料来处理加工应用。我们概述了并联机构的基本建模工具，然后解释了如何将它们应用于机床的开发、优化和性能评估，重点是运动学和动态指标、误差分析和校准。然后，我们讨论并行机床在工业中的演变，重点介绍成功的设计和商业应用。最后，我们提供了对该领域的看法，总结了并行机床的主要特征、优点和缺点，强调了阻碍这些系统更广泛实施的障碍，概述了当前的研究趋势，并确定了未来潜在的发展。