Monday 9 September 2013

Development of a Microcontroller Based Robotic Arm


Robotic arm has become popular in the world of robotics. The essential part of the robotic arm is a programmable microcontroller based brick capable of driving basically three stepper motors design to form an anthropomorphic structure. The first design was for experimental use on a human-size industrial robot arm called PUMA 560 used to explore issues in versatile object handling and compliance control in grasp actions (Bejczy & Jau, 1986). This paper explains the method of interfacing the robotic arm stepper motors with the programmed 8051-based microcontroller which are used to control the robot operations. We have employed the assembly language in programming our microcontroller. A sample robot which can grab (by magnetizing) and release small objects (by demagnetizing) is built for demonstrating the method explained.
Taking a look back at the history of robot development, a special kind of human-size industrial robotic arm called Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly (PUMA) came into existence.This type of robot is often termed anthropomorphic because of the similarities between its structure and the human arm. The individual joints are named after their human-arm counterparts. “It is worth noting that in our work, the hand is magnetic and not a generalized manipulator. In the proper sense of the word, manipulation is the function of the arm. The function of the arm is to position and orient the hand, act as a mechanical connection and power and sensing transmission link between the hand and the main body of the person. The full functional meaning of the arm rests in the hand” (Bejczy & Jau, 1986). Our work provides important elements that are required to build a simple robotic arm of very high quality. As stated earlier we are making use of the 8051-based microcontroller.

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