ECE 110H Robotic Arm: Project Template

Statement of Purpose

This project intends to create a robotic arm, similar in size and scale to a real human arm. The primary goal is to develop a device which is able to minimize human injury by using a device that is both as accurate and capable as the human hand and arm.

Background Research

At the moment, not many groups have similar projects to ours. The reason why many of us decided to pursue a project like this was many of us have experience creating mechanical devices using Arduino and Raspberry Pis. Attempting a project like this was a challenge many of us were interested in undertaking as it requires a high degree of accuracy and tuning to pull off.

Block Diagram / Flow Chart

System Overview

The block diagram is divided into two sections; one for the “remote” circuit positioned on the user’s hand, and the other for the hardware connected to the robotic arm associated with driving it. The “zero” button is necessary to define a time at which velocity and position are set to zero. Without this, it would only be possible to calculate change in velocity with the accelerometer data. Other than that, each portion of the system is in a continuous loop, constantly measuring and updating its position data.

Parts

Total price of bought parts: $87.36

Part links:

Arduino Pro MIni: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11113

Stepper Motor: https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/nema-17-stepper-motor/nema-17-bipolar-1-8deg-40ncm-56-6oz-in-0-4a-12v-42x42x39mm-4-wires.html 

Driver: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/pololu-corporation/2966/10450454 

LiPo cell: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13813

Power Supply:https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cui-inc/SDI65-12-UDC-P5R/5419181  (other: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bel-power-solutions/ABC41-1012P/7203214)

Possible Challenges

The primary issue is the creation of a device that’s both accurate and as nimble as a human hand can be. Accelerometers are only so accurate, and tuning them to mimic a human’s accuracy while also being versatile is the primary problem.

Some of our group members are off campus, and they’re primarily assigned software tasks. Integration between hardware and software and off campus and on campus work is going to be a challenge as to not let it impact the efficiency of our work.

References

R. Satheeshkumar, "IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems society information", IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. C3-C3, 2015. Available: 10.1109/tcss.2016.2527186 [Accessed 16 February 2021].

V. Patidar and R. Tiwari, "Survey of robotic arm and parameters," 2016 International Conference on Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI), Coimbatore, India, 2016, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ICCCI.2016.7479938.

K. Kruthika, B. M. Kiran Kumar and S. Lakshminarayanan, "Design and development of a robotic arm," 2016 International Conference on Circuits, Controls, Communications and Computing (I4C), Bangalore, 2016, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/CIMCA.2016.8053274.

Anisur Rahman, Md & Khan, Alimul & Ahmed, Tofayel & Sajjad, Md. (2013). Design, Analysis and Implementation of a Robotic Arm-The Animator. International Journal of Engineering Research. 02. 298. 

"Trainable Robotic Arm", Adafruit Learning System, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://learn.adafruit.com/trainable-robotic-arm/required-parts. [Accessed: 18- Feb- 2021].

Final Report Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DoonhWMZVe8Mmvcn5nR8Qn7_1CBlltbc0dSlmK4WYMg/edit?usp=sharing

Final Video Link:  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qzlyhqOrWyFQGqHH1lBHaX9jWXOjQfD8/view

Update:

Circuit diagram: Black is data, red is power