ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

Design and Implementation of Pick and Place

Robotic Arm
Ravikumar Mourya1, Amit Shelke2, Sourabh Satpute3, Sushant Kakade4, Manoj Botre5
1, 2, 3, 4
Student, 5Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, JSPM Narhe Technical Campus Pune

Abstract: Robot manipulator is an essential motion subsystem component of robotic system for positioning,
orientating object so that robot can perform useful task. The main objectives of this project are to design and
implement a 4-DOF pick and place robotic arm. This project can be self-operational in controlling, stating with
simple tasks such as gripping, lifting, placing and releasing. In this project, the focus is on 4-DOF articulated arm.
Articulated arm consists of revolute joints that allowed angular movement between adjacent joint. Four servo
motors were used in this project to perform four degree of freedom (4-DOF). There are numerous dimensions over
which robotic arms can be evaluated, such as torque, payload, speed, range, repeatability and cost, to name a few.
Robot manipulators are designed to execute required movements. Their controller design is equally important.
The robot arm is controlled by a serial servo controller circuit board. The controller used for servo motor
actuation is ATmega 16 Development board.
Keywords: picks and place, 4-DOF robotic arm, manipulator, gripper, Servo motor, AT mega 16.

1. INTRODUCTION

The field of robotics has its origins in science fictions. The word robot comes from the Czech word "robota" means forced
labor in 1920. It took another 40 years before the modern technology of industrial robotics began. Today, robots are
highly automated mechanical manipulators controlled by computers. A robot may appear like a human being or an animal
or a simple electro-mechanical device. A robot may act under the direct control of a human (e.g. the robotic arm of the
space shuttle) or autonomously under the control of a programmed computer. Robots may be used to perform tasks that
are too dangerous or difficult for humans to implement directly (e.g. nuclear waste cleanup) or may be used to automate
repetitive tasks that can be performed more cheaply by a robot than by the employment of a human (e.g. automobile
production) or may be used to automate mindless repetitive tasks that should be performed with more precision by a robot
than by a human (material handling, material transfer applications, machine loading and unloading, processing operations,
assembly and inspection).[4]
The last two decades have witnessed a significant advance in the field of robots application. Many more applications are
expected to appear in space exploration, battlefield and in various actives of daily life in the coming years. A robot is a
mechanical device that performs automated tasks and movements, according to either pre-defined program or a set of
general guidelines and direct human supervision. These tasks either replace or enhance human work, such as in
manufacturing, contraction or manipulation of heavy or hazardous material. Robot is an integral part in automating the
flexible manufacturing system that one greatly in demand these days. Robots are now more than a machine, as robots
have become the solution of the future as cost labor wages and customers demand. Even though the cost of acquiring
robotic system is quite expensive but as today's rapid development and a very high demand in quality with IS0 standards,
human are no longer capable of such demands. Research and development of future robots is moving at a very rapid pace
due to the constantly improving and upgrading of the quality standards of products.[3]

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Paper Publications
 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT:

To solve the problems of pick and place the cylindrical object having 6 cm diameter and 150 gram weight from one
conveyor to another at room temperature in order to reduce human efforts and efficient material handling. The distance
between two conveyers is 50 cm.

2. DESIGN OF ROBOTIC ARM

The mechanical construction in this project is to build and assemble the robotic arm body. After giving a thorough
consideration of all the preceding works in this field, a four degree of freedom manipulator having variable programmed
motions to carry out variety of tasks in diverse environments is chosen. This is a four axis articulate manipulator designed
to move material like machine parts, tools, specialized devices, etc. It is driven by four servomotors and has a gripper as
end-effectors. The gripper has fingers grasping and manipulation of objects as big as a 150 ml cylindrical bottle and
having a weight of about 150 gm throughout the arm’s workspace.

Figure 1: Design Overview of Robotic Arm.

2.1 DESIGN CONSIDERATION:

The following were put into consideration in the design process.
i. Electrical actuators DC servo are chosen instead of hydraulic and pneumatic actuators because of the little power
requirement and its light weight which is suitable for this design.
ii. Materials used for the fabrication were locally sourced from available materials.
iii. The materials which will be used for the design will be light in weight so as to reduce the weight concentration on the
base and the shoulder.
iv. Rectangular sheets instead of blocks are chosen for the links because of their light weight and stability and to reduce
the weight of the arm.
v. A continuous path controller was chosen (PIC microcontroller was used).
vi. The torque is fully balanced by the inertia of the electric motors.
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 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

2.2 SELECTION OF DEGREE OF FREEDOM (DOF):

The number of independents movements that an object can perform in 3D space is termed as the number of degree of
freedom (DOF). Thus, a rigid body free in space has six degree of freedom – three for positions and three for orientations.
For our application 4 DOF are suitable.
2.3 MATERIAL SELECTION:
The most suitable material to fabricate the structure of the arm has to be light and strong. Otherwise, the servo motor will
not be able to pull up the arm and to perform the desired turning degree. Among the materials that can be considered to
fabricate the structure are aluminum, Perspex, plastic polymer and carbon fiber. In choosing the fabrication materials, the
aspect of availability of the materials, the overall cost and the flexibility to be shaped, should also be taken into
consideration. Thus among the four materials considered, the aluminum is the most ideal material to be chosen as
fabrication material.
2.4 SPECIFICATIONS OF ROBOTIC ARM:
The robot arm for this project is the revolute type that closely resembles the human arm. Shoulder that mounted on base
can move the arm through 180 degrees, from horizontal to vertical on each side. The shoulder uses large-scale servo,
provide the torque needed to lift the rest of the arm, as well as any object that it may be grasping. Attached to the shoulder
piece is an elbow that can move through 180 degrees, also powered by a large-scale servo. The wrist is made up of one
standard servo and can move through 180 degrees, in vertical direction. Attached to the wrist is a two-fingered gripper
that utilizes a unique design built around a single standard servo.
Table no. 4.6: Specification of robotic arm.
Table No.1: Specification of robotic arm

Specification Value

Number of axes 4

Horizontal reach 230 mm

Vertical reach 130 mm

Drives 4 servo motors

4 Axes plus gripper.

Configuration All axes completely independent.
All axes can be controlled simultaneously.

(a) Shoulder Rotation -150 degrees

(b) Elbow Rotation -180 degrees
Work Envelope
(c) Wrist Rotation -180 degrees
(d) Gripper Rotation -90 degrees

3. CAD MODELLING OF ROBOTIC ARM

Considering the all points in designing, CAD model (Creo software) is used for robotic arm design. Various component of
robotic arm is shoulder, elbow, wrist, grippers. The purpose of utilizing this Creo software is because Creo can provide a
detail, real images and walk through overviews for demonstrating design. The 3D views of various parts of robotic arm
are shown in fig. 2-8.
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 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

Figure 2: 3D view of Base Plate Figure 3: 3D view of Shoulder Base

Figure 4: 3D view of Shoulder Figure 5: 3D view of Elbow

Figure 6: 3D view of Gripper Base Figure 7: 3D view of Finger

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Paper Publications
 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

Figure 8: 3D view of full Assembly

4. INVERSE KINEMATICS ANALYSIS

In order to control the position and orientation of end- effector of a robot arm to reach its object, the inverse kinematics
solution is more important. In this project, inverse kinematics problem is solved by RoboAnalyzer 3D Model Based
Robotics Learning Software. RoboAnalyzer is developed in the Mechatronics Lab, Department of Mechanical
Engineering at IIT Delhi, India under the guidance of Prof. S. K. Saha.

Figure 9: Initial and final position of Robotic arm.

The position and orientation of the end-effector in terms of given joint angles is calculated using a set of equations and
this is forward kinematics. This set of equations is formed using DH parameters obtained from the link coordinate frame
assignation. The parameters for the manipulator are listed in Table 4.5.1, where 𝜃 is the rotation about the Z-axis, α
rotation about the X-axis, d transition along the Z-axis, and transition along the X-axis.
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Paper Publications
 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

Table 2: DH kinematic parameter table

Axis Type Joint angle θ in degree Link length di in m Joint Offset ai in m Twist angle αi in radian
1 Shoulder 𝜃1 0.13 0 0

2 Elbow 𝜃2 0.11 0 0

3 Base 𝜃3 0.07 0 0
Giving these information to RoboAnalyze Software for finding the joint angle (θ) for different positions of robotic arm.
Following results are obtained:
Table 3: Joint angles for different positions of end effector

Sr. No. Positions in case 1 in Case 2

𝜃1 = -35.59 𝜃1 = 49.84
X = 0.23
1 𝜃2 = 96.02 𝜃2 = -96.02
Y = 0.02
𝜃3 = -60.42 𝜃3 = 46.17
𝜃1 = 25.49 𝜃1 =140.25
X =0.08
2 𝜃2 = 141.87 𝜃2 =-141.87
Y =0.08
𝜃3 = -167.37 𝜃3 =1.62
𝜃1 = 17.32 𝜃1 = 117.43
X =0.12
3 𝜃2 = 115.0 𝜃2 = -115.0
Y =0.12
𝜃3 = -132.35 𝜃3 = -2.40
𝜃1 =37.99 𝜃1 =86.48
X =0.17
4 𝜃2 = 53.28 𝜃2 = -53.28
Y =0.19
𝜃3 =-91.27 𝜃3 =-33.20
𝜃1 = 91.90 𝜃1 = 112.61
X = 0.02
5 𝜃2 = 22.61 𝜃2 = -22.61
Y = 0.23
𝜃3 = -114.52 𝜃3 = -90.00
Where case 1 and case 2 are two different trajectory of robotic arm which is suitable for our project application. We can
select any one of them. Some Graphs output come out from RoboAnalyzer Software by providing initial positions and
final positions in term of joint angle as below:

Joint Value Vs Time Joint Velocity Vs Time

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 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

Joint Acceleration Vs Time Joint Torque Vs Time

Figure 10: Graphs obtained by RoboAnalyzer Software.

5. FE ANALYSIS
Ansys software uses the displacement formulation of the finite element method to calculate component displacements,
strains, and stresses under internal and external loads. The geometry under analysis is discretized using tetrahedral (3D),
triangular (2D), and beam elements, and solved by either a direct sparse or iterative solver. SOLIDWORKS Simulation
also offers the 2D simplification assumption for plane stress, plane strain, extruded, or axis symmetric options. Ansys
Software can use either an h or p adaptive element type, providing a great advantage to designers and engineers as the
adaptive method ensures that the solution has converged.

Figure 11: Total Deformation of Shoulder Base Figure 12: Stress on Shoulder Base

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Paper Publications
 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

Figure 13: Total Deformation of Shoulder Figure 14: Stress on Shoulder

Figure 15: Total Deformation of Elbow Figure 16: Stress on Elbow

Figure 17: Total Deformation of Finger Figure 18: Stress on Finger

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Paper Publications
 ISSN 2393-8471

International Journal of Recent Research in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (IJRRCME)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp: (232-240), Month: April 2015 – September 2015, Available at: www.paperpublications.org

6. CONCLUSION
In this project we are designing and fabricating of a 4-DOF manipulator has been successfully completed. With reference
to many available manipulators and mobile platforms in market, a practical design for the manipulator has been perceived
and computer aided designing tools like Creo 1.0 and AutoCAD are used to model the desired manipulator. Theoretical
analysis of the inverse kinematics was carried out to determine the end effectors position and orientation. FE Anlysis is
done by using ansys software.

REFERENCES
[1] B.O. Omijeh, R. Uhunmwangho, M. Ehikhamenle, “Design Analysis of a Remote Controlled Pick and Place Robotic
Vehicle”, International Journal of Engineering Research and Development, Volume 10, PP.57-68, May 2014.
[2] Elias Eliot, B.B.V.L. Deepak, D.R. Parhi, and J. Srinivas, “Design & Kinematic Analysis of an Articulated Robotic
Manipulator”, Department of Industrial Design, National Institute of Technology-Rourkela.
[3] Sanjay Lakshminarayan, Shweta Patil, “Position Control of Pick and Place Robotic Arm”, Department of Electrical
Engineering MS Ramaiah Technology, Bangalore, India.
[4] Mohamed Naufal Bin Omar, “Pick and Place Robotic Arm Controlled By Computer”, Faculty of Manufacturing
Engineering, April 2007.
[5] Ankit Gupta, Mridul Gupta, NeelakshiBajpai, Pooja Gupta, Prashant Singh, “Efficient Design and Implementation
of 4-Degree of Freedom Robotic Arm”, International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-2, June 2013.

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