DEVELOPMENT OF ROBOTIC ARM USING

ARDUINO UNO
1
Priyambada Mishra, 2Riki Patel,2Trushit Upadhyaya, 2Arpan Desai
1
B.Tech Student,Department of Electronics & Communication,
2,
Department of Electronics & Communication, Charotar University of Science & Technology, Changa,
Gujarat, India. [email protected]

ABSTRACT
This proposed work is an overview of how we can make use of servo motor to make joints of a robotic arm and control it
using potentiometer. Arduino UNO board is programmed to control the servo motors and arduino's analog input is given to
potentiometer. This modelling resembles like a robotic crane or we can convert it into robotic crane using some tweaks.
Robotic arm is one of the major projects in today automation industries. Robotic arm is part of the mechatronic industry
today’s fast growing industry. This project is apick and place robotic arm. On large scale it can be used as in environment,
which is either hazardous (e.g. radiation) or not accessible. As the size of the robots scale down, the physics that governs
the mode of operation, power delivery, and control change dramatically, restricting how these devices operate This also
include it's characteristics like its extension, positioning, orientation, tools and object it can carry. This paper is on how we
can make robotic arm with non useful materials and its application for small purposes. This paper also says about its
advantages, disadvantages, methodology. I conclude this paper by future enhancement.

I. INTRODUCTION
The term robot comes from the Czech word robota, different ways. A human arm by comparison have seven
generally translated as "forced labour", this describes the degrees of freedom [2].
majority of robots fairly well. Most robots in the world are
designed for heavy, difficult to manufacture in work. They Like as we have our arm whose job is to move your hand
handle tasks that are difficulty, dangerous or boring to from place to place. Similarly job of robotic arm's is to
human beings. The most common robot is the robotic arm. move an object from one place to other that is what is a
This robotic arm is type of mechanical model arm, it is pick and place robotic arm. Industrial robots are designed
usually programmed, like of a human arm may be the sum to do exactly in an controlled environment, over and over
total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex again. For example, a robot might twist the caps of peanut
robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by butter jars coming down an assembly line. To each a robot
joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an how to do its job, the programmer guides the arm through
articulated robot) or linear displacement [1] . the motions using a handheld controller. The robot stores
the exact sequence of movements in its memory, and does
An industrial arm with six joints similar to a human arm it it again and again every time a new unit comes down the
has equivalent of a shoulder, an elbow and a wrist. assembly line [5] .
Typically, the shoulder is mounted on a stationary base
structure rather than to a movable body. This type of robot Most industrial robots work in auto assembly lines putting
has six degree of freedom, meaning it can pivot in six cars together. Robots can do a lot of this work more
efficiently than human beings because they are so precise, Enlisting the industrial robotic arms parameter:
They always drill in the exactly the same place, and they
always tighten bolts with the same amount of force, no 1. Number of axes
matter how many hours, they've been working. 2. Degree of freedom
Manufacturing of robots are very important in the 3. Working Freedom: The region of space a robot
computer industry. It takes precise hand to put together in can reach
tiny microstrip[4]. 4. Carrying capacity or pay load: How much weight
a robot can lift.
5. Speed: How fast the robot can position the end
of its arm, angular linear speed of each axis or
as a compound speed.
6. Acceleration: How quickly an axis can
accelerate.
7. Accuracy: How closely a robot can reach a
commanded position.
8. Repeatability: How well the robot will return to
a programmed position.
9. Power source
10. Drive: Some robots connect electric motors to
the joints via gears, others connect to the motor Fig 4 Cylindrical robotic arm
to joint directly.
11. Compliance

Types of robotic arm:

1. Cartesian robot : Used for pick and place

work, , handling machine tools and arc
welding application in various purposes
like in assembly operations
2. Cylindrical robot: It is mostly used for
assembly purpose operations, handling of
machine tools, spot welding. It is a robot
which has axes form of a cylindrical
coordinate systemshows fig.4 [11].
3. Spherical robot: Used for handling
machine tools, spot welding, fettling i Fig 1 Scara robotic arm Fig 2 Spherical robotic
machines, gas welding and arc welding. It
is a robot which has axes as form a polar
coordinate system shows fig.2.
4. Articulated robotshows fig.3.
5. Parallel robot
6. SCARA robotshows fig.1
7. Anthropomorphic robot: It is shaped in a
way that resembles a human hand, i.e. with
independent fingers and thumbs.

Fig 3 Articulated

This project is very much of a beginner level that is here i

have used servo motors and potentiometer where
potentiometers act as controller of servo motors and
 servo motor act as a joint. the servo motors and degrees (90 in each direction), these are excessively
potentiometer are controlled by Arduino Uno board. used when there is a need for accurate shaft
The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on movement or position. These are not proposed for
the ATmega328. It specification are 14 digital high speed applications. They are proposed for low
input/output pins of which 6 can be used as PWM speed, medium torque and accurate position
outputs, , a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB application[6] [7].
connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, 6 analog
inputs and a reset button. Servo Motor (SG 90- four The voltage across variable resistors is not linear; it
pieces): . Tiny and lightweight with high output will be bit noisy one. So to filter out this noise,
power[12]. Servo can rotate approximately 180 capacitors of micro are placed across each resistor
II. METHODOLOGY aRobotic Crane or we can convert it into a Crane
by easy ways
2. This Robotic Arm is controlled by four
Potentiometer with which we attach each with
potentiometer that is used to control each servo.
We can move these servos by rotating the
potentiometer to pick some object, with some
practice we can easily pick and move the object
from one place to another. Here we use low torque
servos here but we can use more powerful servos
to pick heavy object.
3. Program done using Arduino 1.6.10.
4. We connect the circuit according to circuit
diagram.
Fig 5 Block diagram representing the robotic arm
5. Now the voltage provided by these variable
resistor voltage which represents position control
Fig 5 show the Block diagram representing the robotic
into ADC channels of Arduino.
arm , The components here used are arduino uno board,
6. We are going to use four ADC channels of UNO
capacitors, servo SG90,10k pot variable resistor. Now
from A0 to A3. After the ADC initialization, we
talking about servo motors they are excessively used when
will have digital value of pots representing the
there is a need for a accurate shaft movement or position.
position needed by user.
These are not proposed for a high sped applications. Servo
7. We will take this value and match it with servo
motors are proposed for low speed, medium torque and
position.
accurate position application. So they are best for designing
8. The robotic arms takes a perfect scaling that is
robotic arm. Servo motor are available at different shapes
cardboard, foam board is cut using measuring a
and sizes. We are going to use small servo motors (four) a
servo are fitted according so that position of one
servo motor will have mainly three wires positive voltage
servo motor does not affect the position of other
another is for ground and the last one is for position setting.
servo motor.
The RED wire is connected to power, the brown wire is
9. As we rotate the 10K pot the value changes
grounded and the orange wire is for signal.
accordingly and we get rotation in the output of
servo motor.
1. The arm has been built with cardboards and the
10. The voltage across variable resistors is not
individual parts have been locked to servo motors.
completely linear; it will be a noisy one. So to
Arduino Uno is programmed to control servo
filter out this noise, capacitors are placed across
motors. Servos motors are acting as joints of
each resistor.
Robotic arm here. This setup looks a like
Fig 6 Proteus stimulation

Fig 7 Flow chart of program

Arduino has six ADC channels. Here four are used for the
robotic arm. The UNO ADC is of 10 bit resolution so the
integer values ranging from 0-1023(2^10=1024). This
means
that the input will map voltages from 0 and 5 volts into
integer values between 0 and 1023. So for every
(5/1024=4.9mv) per unit. As all the UNO ADC channels
has a default reference of 5V for ADC conversion at any
input channel. Since some sensors provide voltages from 0-
2.5V, with a 5V reference we get lesser accuracy, so we
have a instruction that enables us to change this reference
value. So for changing the reference value we have
("analogReference();").
As default we get the maximum board ADC resolution which
is 10 bits, this resolution can be changed by using
instruction (”analogReadResolution(bits);"). This resolution
change can come in some cases.Now if the above condition
are set default, then we can read value from ADC of
channel '0' by directly calling function "analogRead(pin);",
here pin represents pin where we connect analog signal.
The value from ADC can be taken into an integer as float
voltage value=analogRead(A0); by this instruction the
value after ADC gets stored in the integer "Voltage value".

Fig 6 show the Proteus stimulation and fig.7 for flow

chart Now for the arduino UNO to convert analog
signal into digital signal, we will have to use ADC
channel of Arduino UNO with the help of above
function:

a. analogRead(pin);
b. analogReference();
c. analogReadResolution(bits);
Now talking about servo, the arduino Uno has a
feature which enables us to control the servo position
by just giving the degree value. Say if we want the
servo to be at 60, we can directly represent the value
in the program. The Servo header(Servo.h) file takes
care of all the duty ratio calculations internally.

#include <servo.h>
servo servo0;
servo0.attach(3);
servo0.write(degrees);
Here the first statement represents the header file for
controlling the SERVO MOTOR. Second statement is
for naming the servo. Here considering as servo0 as i
have used four servo motor. Third statement states
where the servo signal pin is connected this must be
PWM pin here pin3 for first servo. Fourth statement
gives command for positioning servo in degrees. If it
is given 30, the servo motor rotates in 30 degrees.
Now we have SG90 servo position from 0 to 180 and
the ADC values are from 0-1023. We will use a
servovalue function function which matches both
values automatically.
sensorvalue0=map(sensorvalue0, 0, 1023);
sensorvalue1=map(sensorvalue0, 1, 1023);
sensorvalue2=map(sensorvalue0, 2, 1023);
sensorvalue3=map(sensorvalue0, 3, 1023);
The above statement maps both values automatically
and stores the result in integer 'sensorvalue0'.
The above statement maps both values automatically
and stores the result in integer 'sensorvalue1'.
The above statement maps both values automatically
and stores the result in integer 'sensorvalue2'.
The above statement maps both values automatically
and stores the result in integer 'sensorvalue3'.
Thus by using the pot means by rotating the pot which
changing its voltage value will change the servo
angular rotation.
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Construction of the robotic arm

The four servo are connected by the help of glue gun

and foam board, cardboard. These are connected by
scaling and angular rotation of servo motor.
On a flat surface like a table a hard cardboard a servo
is placed in the middle and glued in place. The degree
of rotation is 0 to 180 degrees, which forms the base
of the arm. This base forms the main joint on this
servo the whole load of other servo was made. So
there was a problem initially but then it was fixed
tightly with screws and made it. Fig 8 shows how the
base forms the bottom part of the robotic arm.
Fig8 Step 1

Then a small piece of cardboard is placed on the top

of the first servo and above it a second servo is placed
on this piece and glued it in the place. The servo
rotation m just be again 0 to 180 degree rotation. This
servo forms the another joint of the arm thus forming
the second base of robotic arm. This is shown in the
Fig 9 that is how the second servo is placed on the
second servo. Each Servo is necessary for another
servo joint forming a scaled hand so that arms remains Fig 9 Step 2
stable and we can use pick and place the object easily.

Then for the joint we take few cardboards and cut

them into 3cm*11cm pieces. Making sure the piece is
not softened otherwise it will not able to support the
servo motor and would fall easily. Cutting a small
rectangular hole at one end (leaving 0.8cm from
bottom) that is just enough to fit another servo in it
which would form the another base of the fourth
servo. The third servo is fitted and gear tightly with
screws and by glue. then fitting the third servo in the
first hole [10]. Fig 10 Step 3

Now the fourth and the last servo is glued at the edge
of another piece that is made of another cardboard
piece with length 8cm,3cm,4cm,1cm. With this we
connect the third and fourth respectively together and
hence we set up as of Fig 11 and this servo forms the
main to pick and place device. Now we make a hook
so that we can easily pick the objects so for that we
cut two pieces of cardboard of length 1cm*7cm and
4cm*5cm gluing them together making it a final grab
and then all the joints are glued together and we get a
robotic arm ready to connect to the digital pins of
arduino and which can be controlled by the use of the Fig 11 Step 4
10k pot. Fig 8 to fig12 show for the one by one step
move for arm.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION

How to operate the robotic arm

Here we are having four pots provided to the user that arm and the whole circuit it works accordingly when
is by rotating these four pots, we supply variable we apply a 5V supply to the system and we get a
voltage at the ADC channels of UNO. So the digital suitable output. Thus representing how it works
values of Arduino are under control of user. These accordingly. Still there is a problem of vibration in the
digital values are to adjust the servo motor position, system that can reduce in the future enhancement that
thus the servo position is in control of user and by is maybe we can use high power servo motor and by
rotating these pots we can move the joints of Robotic the help of it vibration can be reduced even the
arm and we can pick or grab or place any object. The grabbing power is less that it can pick a very heavy
voltage across variable resistors is not completely object just a lighter object. In future this structure can
linear it will be a noisy one [9]. So to filter out this be modified and made of heavier materials and power
noise, capacitors are placed across each servo or either accelerometer or simple ac, dc motors
resistor.Robotic Arm is controlled by four thus we will get a structure that would be able to pick
Potentiometer, and we control it with the help of servo object easily and grab heavy object easily and act like
motor, We can move these servos by rotating the a perfect crane.Fig 13show the representing whole
potentiometer to pick objects, with some practice we robotic arm and fig.14 show the connections with
can easily pick and move the object from one place to arduino.
another. We have used low torque servos here but we
can use more powerful servos to pick heavy object.
The given three figures shows the complete working
of the robotic arm that is how each potentiometer is
fixed and how each individual pot controls the
rotation of the servo motors. The below figure shows
how four potentiometer are fixed [8].

Fig 13 representing whole robotic arm

Fig 12 Step 5

Practice is required for rotating the pots accordingly

and thus by when the ADC values are from 0-1023 it
will match the servo degree of rotation that is from 0
to 180 degree and we get an appropriate output.
Thought there was many vibration in the system still. I
made use of capacitor 1000micro farad (4) and 100
nano farad do that we can use of it and block the noise
and improve the stability of the robotic arm.
Remaining two figures shows the individual Robotic
Fig 14 representing the connections with arduino
IV. ADVANTAGESAND
DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES:

 Grasping and holding objects and then move

them to a new location, or mixing with other
fluids. (used in laboratories that trust such arms
to work within a toxic environment and so do not
endanger the researcher. Building cars.
 Retrieving suspicious objects without
endangering humans.
 Dig trenches. Fig 15arm design for architectural drawing
 A source of entertainment and education.
 An appendage of an anthropocentric robot.
 Used in surgery.
 Used in farming.

Fig.15 show the arm are using for the architecture

drawing part and fig 16 agricultural purpose also we
can use ad pick and place .

DISADVANTAGES:
 This project is a small scale production it can Fig 16 arm for agricultural purpose.
pick up only small and lighter objects.
 On large scale this project may become costly
and its circuit complexity increases.
 On large scale may become hazardous due to
uncontrollable robotic arm it can harm
physically.

V. APPLICATIONS:

o The characteristics of a robotic arm are:

- its extension: how far from its base it can operate
- its positioning: can it control its wrist position,
orientation, with what precision, what speed Fig 17 arm for pick and place
- the tools and objects it can carry
o Therefore they can be used as: The above three figures represent how we can use the
Painting (cars) robotic arm on large scale production that in industry ho
- soldering (cars) it is helping humans and making our life easier thus by
- access unevenly placed parts (for scanning, several industrial parameters we defined the robotic
selecting...) arms based on characteristics thus which satisfy how we
- pick and place (most industries, a lot for food can make use of these characteristics and make pure
industry). developed hand that it used for many purposes. Thus
- act in a human-designed environment: send the not only the large scale robotic arm have complex
arm on a mobile base to a damaged/radioactive structure but even it is difficult to make. Circuit
building and use the arm to open the door and complexity is more compared to the small scale
manipulate the tools (by itself or remote production where we can supply less voltage and get a
controlled) desired output but in this we need a large power supply
to get a desired output.
 Robot and Distributed Sensor Systems", In
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CONCLUSION 2003.

FUTURE ENHANCEMENT 7. P. Dalsania, B. Shah, T. Upadhyaya and V.

V. Dwivedi, "Analysis of Multiband
 Future enhancement can include further Behaviour on Square Patch Fractal
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 Ultrasonic sensor can even be placed on the arm
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