International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Open Access

Research Paper Volume-4, Special Issue-6, Aug 2016 E-ISSN: 2347-2693

Hand Gesture Controlled ARM

Atreyee Mitra 1*, Sankhojjal Chatterjee 2, Shamik Bakshi3 and Suvobroto Banerjee 4
1,2,3,4
Department of Electronics and Instrumentation, Techno India College of Technology, Kolkata, India

Available online at: www.ijcseonline.org

Received: Jun/26/2016 Revised: July/08/2016 Accepted: July/26/2016 Published: Aug/12/2016
Abstract— Robotic hands so far made were done by usingmicrocontroller and were wired based. Though number of degrees of
freedom can be increased as well as precision of the arm increases with the help of using microcontroller, but eventually the
roboarm used to become costly. In this paper we have tried to make a Roboarm capable of enacting human hand gesture which is
microcontrollerless and more over it is based on Wireless communication technique. For picking purpose we have used Servo
Motors and for controlling the servos we used Servo driver using 555 Timer. Humans pick things up without thinking about the
steps involved in it. In order for a robot or a robotic arm to pick up or move something, someone needs to tell it to perform several
actions in a particular manner such as moving the arm, to rotating the “wrist” to opening and closing the “hand” or “fingers”.
Keywords— Pwm based, Wireless(434Mhz Radio Frequncy have been used instead), Degrees of Freedom, Microcontrollerless
I. INTRODUCTION the angle of rotation- 0° and 180°
Robots are used where working conditions are unsuitable
for humans. As well as working at a constant rate, robots are IV. SYSTEM DESIGN
capable of handling dangerous substances without fear of
contamination and it can also be built to function in extreme
environment condition. Thus, a robotic arm is a robotic Systems design may be defined as the process of defining
manipulator, capable of imitating the human gestures. Now a the system such as architecture, components, modules and
days the most commonly used robots in industry is a robotic data for a system which is used to satisfy different specific
manipulator or a robotic arm. Robotic arm is basically an open requirements. Systems design could be seen as the way to
closed kinematics chain of rigid links interconnected by apply the systems theory to product development. In practical
movable joints. The end of the arm is connected to the end- cases there is some relation between the disciplines of
effectors. The end-effector may be a tool and its fixture or a systems analysis, systems architecture and as well as systems
gripper or any other device to do the work. The end-effector is engineering.
similar to human hand with or without human hand.
A. Block Diagram
II. EASE OF USE
The mechanism is divided in two parts
a) Microcontroller less
The roboarm doesn’t uses any microcontroller and is Part A:
driven by Servo driver which generates PWM signals for
the Servo motors. Hence, it is less costly.

b) Wireless Communication Technology

The roboarm is based on wireless communication
technology. So it has no fixed range of operation. It can be
accessed within a room from anywhere which makes it
very user friendly.

III. ABBREVIATIONS AND UNITS

• In the voltage divider and as well as comparator
circuit we have dealt with the voltage which is
expressed in terms of Volt
• The encoded voltage signal is transmitted as RF
signal in MHz range of frequency
• The required capacitance in the PWM driver is
calculated in terms of nanofarad which along with the
variable resistance(in terms of KΩ ) is responsible for

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 International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.-4(6), Aug 2016, E-ISSN: 2347-2693

Part B: b) Transmitter Section

The transmitter module we have used for the project is -A

434(434 MHz radio frequency) along with the encoder
HT12E. The Encoder consists of four input data pins and only
single output data pin. It also has 8 address pins used for
locking the addresses so no 2 434MHz signals gets interfered
to each other. Through these 4 input pins the corresponding
voltage outputs of the comparator circuit i.e. logic 1(5V) and
logic 0 (0V) is sent. The encoded signal is sent out through the
data out pin. The data out pin of the encoder is connected with
the data pin of the A-434 Transmitter. Through this pin the
transmitter receives the encoded signal and it transmits the
signal at 434 MHz frequency through the antenna.

a) Voltage Divider and Comparator Circuit

This part consists of a quad comparator (LM324) and a

voltage divider circuit. A fixed resistance of 33 KΩ and the
variable resistance of the flex sensor which are attached to the
fingers of the person form the voltage divider part. The
resistance of the flex sensor varies from 19 KΩ to 45 KΩ.
Hence the variable output voltage in this case
VOut =variable resistance of flex sensor.VCCVariable flex
resistance+33 KΩ

Since we have used only 2 states of the claw position, the

output signal of the flex sensor is fed to the comparator (LM
324). The variable output voltage VOut is applied to the non- c) Receiver Section
inverting input (A) of the comparator, which is compared with
the reference value. The reference input (B) of the comparator
is the variable POT resistance having a value of of 25KΩ The receiver module we have used for this project is A-434
across the voltage source. If A>B the output of the comparator (434 MHz radio frequency) along with the decoder HT12D. It
is a high signal i.e. 5V. If A<B the output of the comparator is has single input pin and 4 output pins. It also has 8 address
a low signal i.e. 0V. pins used to demultiplex the addresses which were
multiplexed earlier. The signal which will be transmitted
received through the antenna of the receiver. The
corresponding received data is sent through the data pin of the
receiver. The data pin of the receiver is connected to the data
input pin of decoder. The decoder decodes the received
encoded signal and the logic 1(5V) and logic 0(0V) signal is
again fetched back.

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 International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.-4(6), Aug 2016, E-ISSN: 2347-2693

d) Pulse Width Modulation Driver • The Encoded signal is transmitted with a radio
frequency of 434 MHz
The Pulse Width Modulation is done with the help of NE555 • One PWM driver is connected with another PWM
timer. It changes the duty cycle of the pulse. The servo motor driver through a NOT gate. In one driver the POT
can be interfaced with the 555 timer which will supply the resistance is set at 47k (maximum) where as in the
required PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). This part consists other driver POT resistance is 1K (minimum). The
of two PWM driver for each finger such as one driver has the Capacitance used in the PWM drivers is 100 nf.
maximum POT resistance where as the other one has • The PWM driver having a POT resistance of 47K is
minimum POT resistance. The output pin of both the PWM responsible for the 180° rotation where as the other
driver will be connected with the servo control pin. One of the PWM driver rotates the servo motor by 0°
driver is connected through a NOT gate with the input signal.
When 0V is received as an input signal the PWM driver will VI. PROCESS FLOW
be ON having minimum POT resistance. With the bending of
the flex sensors connected on the finger of the human arm a
5V signal will be received as an input and the PWM driver
which was ON at that time will go to OFF state and the
another PWM driver having maximum resistance will go to
ON state. Since there is a change of resistance the servo motor
will rotate about the angles - 0 and 180°.

VII. EQUATIONS

a) Torque Equation
The symbol for torque is typically , the Greek letter tau.
V. CALCULATION AND ANALYSIS When it is called moment of force, it is commonly denoted M
The magnitude of torque depends on three quantities: the force
• The flex sensors we have used in this project has a applied, the length of the arm connecting the axis to the point
of force application, and the angle between the force vector
range of 19 KΩ to 45 KΩ which is connected with a and the lever arm.
resistance of 33 KΩ to form the voltage divider
circuit.
• Since we have used only 2 states of the claw position b) Voltage Divider Circuit Equation

the variable output voltage VOut is applied to the A voltage divider referenced to ground is created by
non-inverting input (A) of the comparator, which is connecting two electrical impedances in series. The input
compared with the reference value (B) that is taken as voltage is to be applied across the series impedances say R1
POT resistance of 25KΩ across the voltage source. and R2 and the output is the voltage across R2. R1 and R2
• When A>B the output of the comparator is 5V. If may be composed of any combination of elements such as
A<B the output of the comparator is 0V. resistors, inductors and capacitors.

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 International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.-4(6), Aug 2016, E-ISSN: 2347-2693

[9] http://maxembedded.com/2011/09/rf-module-
c) Pulse Width modulation Equation interfacing-without-microcontroller
Pulse-width modulation uses a rectangular pulse wave
whose pulse width is modulated resulting in the variation of AUTHORS’ PROFILE
the average value of the waveform. If we consider a pulse
waveform f(t), with period T, low value , a high Name: Atreyee Mitra
About: She has completed her B.Tech in Electronics and
value and a duty cycle D (given in the figure) the Instrumentation from Techno India College of Technology ,
average value of the waveform is given by: Kolkata, India. Her research interest areas are Process Control ,
Electronic Measurement and Instrumentation.

Name: Sankhojjal Chatterjee

About: He has completed his B.Tech in Electronics and
Instrumentation from Techno India College of Technology ,
Kolkata, India. His research interest areas are C / C++
Programming , Arduino , Microcontrollers , Sensors .

Name: Shamik Baksi

VIII. CONCLUSION About: He has completed his B.Tech in Electronics and
Instrumentation from Techno India College of Technology ,
The robotic claws are used in the industrial field, medical Kolkata, India. His research interest areas are JAVA Programming
field and bomb disposal squad, defense field area and so on. , , Microcontrollers , Process Control and Instrumentation.
Future aspects lie on the fact that the artificial intelligence
can further increase the efficiency of the arm. Name: Suvobroto Banerjee
About: He has completed her M.Tech in Mechatronics
IX. FUTURE ASPECTS Engineering from Bengal Engineering and Science University,
Shibpur, Howrah , India (Now, IIEST , Shibpur). He is an
• This project can be improved by implementing Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and
proximity sensor which will be used for obstacle Instrumentation at Techno India College of Technology , Kolkata ,
detection technique.. The roborm vehicle will be India. His research interest areas are MEMS, Process Control and
able to detect the obstacles automatically on its Instrumentation.
own.
• This robotic arm can be controlled with the help of
Android and Bluetooth Application instead of
DPDT switches.
• Image Sensing technology can also be incorporated
with this existing model.
X. REFERENCES
[1] Fundamentals Of Robotics - Analysis And Control,
Robert J schilling
[2] International Journal on Robotics and Automation ,
[3] Prof.M.Kamel
[4] Dr. R. V. Dharaskar, S. A. Chhabria, Sandeep
Ganorkar, "Robotic Arm Control Using Gesture
and Voice", In International Journal of Computer,
Information Technology & Bioinformatics
(IJCITB)
[5] Robotics control sensing vision and intelligence,
K.S.Fu, R.C.Gonzalez,C.S.G.Lee
[6] http://www.robotoid.com/appnotes/circuits-
servo-control-with-555-timer.html
[7] http://www.intorobotics.com/best-projects-
diy-robotic-arms/
[8] http://www.academia.edu/5593655/Robotic_Arm
_Final_Year_Project_Report/

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