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LabVIEW based four DoF robotic ARM

Conference Paper · September 2016

DOI: 10.1109/ICACCI.2016.7732308

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 Four DoF Robotic ARM using LabVIEW
2 3 4
Mr. Rahul Shivaji Pol1, Mr. S Giri , Ms. V Ghode , Mr. P Ghodake
1
Research Scholar, Dept. ECE, Sathyabama University, Chennai, Assistant Professor & VIIT-NI LabVIEW Acad. Coordinator
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology, Pune - 48, Maharashtra, India Mob: +91-9657799066,
Email: [email protected], http://www.viit.ac.in http://www.viit.ac.in/faculty-profile.php?entc-pol
2
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology, Pune - 48, Maharashtra, India Mob: +91-8087337240
Email: [email protected],
3
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology, Pune - 48, Maharashtra, India Mob: +91-8087337240
Email: adityaravishankar7 @gmail.com
4
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology, Pune - 48, Maharashtra, India Mob: +91-8087337240
Email: [email protected]
5
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology, Pune - 48, Maharashtra, India Mob: +91-8087337240
Email: [email protected]

Abstract: work objects, various tools, or dedicated devices through

The aim of this research paper is to thoroughly adaptive planned motions to execute a diversity of tasks. An
elaborate designing, development and to implement steps non assistive industrial robot system incorporate many
involved to make a superior four degrees of freedom (DoF) robot devices and sensors incorporated by the robot to execute its
ARM with control that is more organized and low expenditure. overall tasks as well as chaining or supervising
A four DoF robotic ARM is a kind of robot (part) usually
communication interfaces[7,8]. Author has done robotic arm
programmable, with identical functions to a human ARM. The
said robotic ARM is designed with four degrees of freedom to programming in LabVIEW, which is a graphical language.
perform various associated tasks, such as material handling, Lab VIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering
shifting which can serves as an assistant for industry. The robot Workbench) is a development environment based on the
ARM is built with number of servomotor that perform ARM graphical programming language G. It has two windows, front
movements concurrently. The controlling action of robotic ARM panel and block diagram. Block diagram contains the actual
are manage through graphical coding interface; labVIEW. code whereas front panel is the area that holds
LabVIEW communicates the appropriate movement angles to control/indicators which enables user interaction
the robotic ARM that drives the servomotors having capability
of varying position. The robotic ARM runs in three different
modes manual mode, semiautonomous mode and autonomous
2. Structural design consideration and realization.
mode. The said paper briefly elaborate all steps involved in
design, realization, testing, and validation part of the said robot The structural design of the four DoF robot ARM is
which results in a properly and more organized control robot identical to a functional human ARM. The links of such a
ARM. robot ARM are coupled by joints permitting required
rotational action also the feasible links is considered to form a
Keywords: kinematic chain. The end effecter or end of ARM tooling
(identical to the human hand) is the far end of the kinematic
Designing of robot ARM, low-cost robot ARM, chain of operator.
servo motors based robot, labVIEW, Vis, express Vis, Four
Degrees of Freedom robot ARM, arduino, Servo
programming,

1. Introduction

"Robotics" is the term practically defined as the

design and utilization of robot systems for industry [2,9].
Robots are usually preferred to use for performing hazardous,
complicated as well as highly monotonous, and unpleasant
jobs [2]. These are installed in many workstations where ever
heavy loads and hectic operations has to be perform such as
material handling, different part assembly, various types of
welding, different spraying, painting also can be used to
placing small parts with accuracy etc.[3,4,5].
The two major segments of assistive robots were a
assistive service robots and non assistive industrial robots.
Figure 1. Structural diagram of four DoF robot ARM.
Assistive service robots are normally operates partially or
fully autonomously to execute different services helpful to the
The four DoF robotic ARM structure diagram shown
humans and machines. The ISO definition of Assistive
in Figure 1 As this robot ARM uses commercial gripper,
industrial robot are those robot which autonomously
author intentionally removed end effectors. The said end
performed also multipurpose programmable in three or more
effectors are extremely complex part of robot, author
axis [6, 10]. Assistive industrial robot are designed to shift
recommend to use easy, economically, commercially L = Object weight + Gripper weight
available gripper that improves development time and robot = 150gm + 100gm = 250gm
structure.
Figure 3 shows the force diagram of robot link used for
effective load calculations. The estimation were done only for the
linkage joints that have the greatest loads, since the other joints
have the same motor, i.e. the servo motors can move the respected
links with an ease. The calculations includes the weight of the
motors, about 60 grams.
The general torque calculation for a link is shown
below which helps in calculating torque at different points
with reference to Figure 4.

Figure 4. General diagram for torque calculation

Figure 2. Work volume of the robotic ARM
Torque is defined as a twisting or turning “force”
Figure 2 shows the work volume of the robotic shown in figure 4 and is calculated using the following
ARM. The light gray color shows the area that the ARM can relation:
follow; while the lined shaded portion shows the area where T=F*L
ARM cannot reach. This is the classical workspace of a four F = m * g … gravity (g = 9.81m/s2)
degree of freedom robotic ARM. To make design effective, Above force is also considered as the object’s weight (W).
simple, low cost, author restrict ARM structural design up to W=m*g
four DoF without sacrificing required servos movement and Therefore, Torque can be given as
design freedom. To facilitate robot ARM to reach at all the T=W*L
positions except explain in figure 2 author allows the Calculation of torque at A2 i.e. T1 is as follows;
movement across two axis in shoulder part, only single axis in
elbow and wrist joints. T1 = L1 * A1 + 1/2 * L1 * W1
Author implemented the four DoF robotic ARM with i.e. T1 = L1 * A1 + L2 * W1 … (1)
aluminum material so that weight of the structure should not Where, W1 is the weight of the link.
burden the motor. Electrical motor are incorporated inside the
robot ARM link. The servomotors were preferred because
these are very sturdy with inbuilt encoders and having
positional feedback for correcting position [8]. These motor
has a major shortcoming of rotational span less than 180˚. The
servo motors were chosen based on the their position where
they must withstand with the required torque and effective
weight projected by the structure and possible loads.

Figure 5. Force diagram for calculation of torque.

Figure 5 shows the force diagram and calculation of

torque on motor; with reference to equation (1) the
calculations are carried out as follows.

TD = (LG * L) + ((1/2) * LG * WG)

Where, LG = 10cm (length of the gripper),
L = Object weight + Gripper weight
= 150gm + 100gm = 250gm and
WG = 100gm (weight of gripper)
Therefore;
TD = (200*10) + (100*5) = 2000 + 500 = 2500gmcm
Figure 3. Force diagram of robot links. TD = 2.5kgcm … (2)
LAB = 9cm (length of the link AB), Similarly;
LBC = 20cm (length of the link BC), TC = L*(LCD+LG) +WG*(LCD*(LG/2)) + WM1*(LCD) +
LCD = 10cm (length of the link CD), WCD*(LCD/2)
WM = WM2 = WM3 = 60gm (weight of motor), = (200*20) + (100*15) + (60*10) + (40*5)
WAB = 35gm (weight of link AB), = 4000 + 1500 + 600 + 200 = 6300gmcm
WBC = 80gm (weight of link BC), TC = 6.3kgcm … (3)
WCD = 30gm (weight of link CD),
And 3. Validation of robot ARM
TB = L*(LBC+ LCD+LG) + WG*(LBC+LCD+ (LG/2)) +
WM1*(LBC+LCD) +WCD*(LBC+(LCD/2))+WM2*(LBC) There are so many tools available to validate the end
+ WBC*(LBC/2) positions of an four DoF robot ARM, author preferred inverse
= (200*40) + (100*35) + (60*30) + (40*25) + kinematics to find accurate position. Inverse kinematic is used
(60*20) + (60*10) to obtain the angular movement of each motor from the
= 8000 + 3500 + 1800 + 1000 + 1200 current position with the help of Cartesian coordinate system.
= 16100gmcm = 16.1kgcm … (4) The motors at each joint have a fixed role : The motor placed
at bottom A positions the end effecter in the y axis, the motors
Therefore, from equation (2), (3) and (4) required torque for at B and C positions the end effecter in the x and z axis. The
motors are; difficulty was simplified by projecting the x-z plane on the
Cartesian coordinate system shown in figure 7.
Joints Minimum Necessary Used We used Analytic method to solve inverse kinematic
(Kg-cm) (Kg-cm) (Kg-cm) that applied on the values known values, a cosine rule is used
Base 4.0 4.2 4.2 for that purpose.
Shoulder 12 16.1 19
Elbow 3 6.3 6.5 Cosine law:
Wrist 4 2.5 4.2
Table 1. Torque of each Servo Used

The motor was chosen based on the calculations, is

the NRS585 (S1), which has a torque of 4.2kgcm, NRS885
(S2) that has a torque of 6.5kgcm, VS11 (S3) that has a torque
of 19kgcm. As the base contains the ball bearing structure in Figure 7. Diagram to illustrate Cosine law
it, the force acted on that motor is less, therefore selection of
servo motor NRS885 was preferred. These motors was … (5)
suggested because it is much inexpensive compared to other Therefore, for calculation of angles, following diagram figure
motors having same specifications [8]. 9 was considered and the figures will vary accordingly.

Figure 8. Diagram to illustrate angle calculation

LBC: the length between joints B to C

LCD: the length between joints C to D
Z: the position in the Z-axis
X: the position in the X-axis
Y: the position in the Y-axis
With reference to equation (5) the following calculations are
done,

Therefore;

… (6)

Figure 6. Robotic arm

The design and simulation of robot ARM is carried
out in solid works after finalizing the dimensions. While … (7)
realizing design into structure design should carefully
considered the thickness of the aluminum sheet, also the
linking of aluminum joints to each other. The aluminum sheet Now;
thickness is 1mm also thin size is chosen so that easier for
linking and less weight with a good resistance.
 … (8)

… (9)

And

… (10)

The motor at position B is uses and the motor at

position C is use . The motor angles are calculated from
equation 10. The servomotors uses the above equations to
control the movement of the joints i.e. robot ARM structure to
reach desired position.

5. Controlling Methods

Author have developed this robot ARM to be

working in three different modes. Figure 9. Shown below
describes the controlling methods of robotic arm
A. Standalone control mode:
B. Semi-autonomous control mode:
C. Autonomous mode:

POWER SUPPLY

LABVIEW INTERFACED WITH ARDUINO

CONTROL MODE

SEMI-
MANUAL AUTONOM-
AUTONOMO-
CONTROL OUS
US CONTROL
CONTROL Figure 10. FRONT PANEL of labVIEW in manual control
mode

B. Semi-autonomous control mode:

ROBOTIC ARM
Semi-autonomous mode shown in figure 12 works by feeding
a set of calculated angles necessary to performing the task. In
this mode author made the robotic arm to perform a particular
Figure 9. LabVIEW control modes such as moving an object from location 1 to location 2. The
function of semiautonomous mode can be understood clearly
from figure 11. The task assigned to robotic arm (such as
The well-experienced operator can drive the structure moving from one location to another) in semi-autonomous
according to job type. LabVIEW provides user friendly, front mode can be continuous or can be made to perform its task for
panel, which beginners can handle very easily. a fix number of times depending upon the data provided by
the user
In labVIEW, new task can also be assigned by changing the
A. Standalone control mode: angular data (present in block diagram panel) given in the
The standalone mode shown in figure 10 is easy to previous task
operate. In this mode, front panel of the labVIEW provides
different graphical control knobs’ interfaces through which
user can control the movement of robot and can position it
anywhere illustrated in figure 2. The said mode is manual
mode; the user can drives this robot ARM structure smoothly.
 giving the command by the user. The robotic arm in
SEMI-AUTONOMOUS MODE
autonomous mode can only detect co-ordinates of one
object present within the arm’s work volume.

SEMI-
AUTONOMOUS
Robotic arm
CONTROL MODE
grasping object
from location 1

Pick the object Release the

from first object at 2nd
position position

Figure 12. Semi- autonomous control mode

6. Electronic Powering and controlling system.

Robotic arm Electronics circuit or robotic ARM consist of 2 parts
placing object at A. Power supply.
location 2 B. Arduino Uno board.

A. Power supply:
Power calculation chart for robotic ARM has been given
below
Parameter Voltage Current Power
2 NRS585 6 volt 1.8 A 10.8 W
2 NRS885 6 Volt 2.4 A 14.4 W
VS-11 6 Volt 3.5 A 21 W
Total 46.2 W
Table 1. Power calculation chart

From the above power calculation author built power supply

of 48 watt (6 volt 8 amp) which is shown in figure 14.

Figure 11. Representation of robotic arm in semi- autonomous

mode B. Arduino UNO board:
Author used famous Arduino UNO interface with
C. Autonomous control mode: labVIEW to operate robotic arm. The LIFA base program
needs to be uploaded through arduino IDE, which makes
The arm has an ultrasonic sensor present at the base Arduino follows all commands of labVIEW.
motor which provides angle and distance of the location
(from where object need to be moved or; to where object
needs to moved) from the point of origin. This data acts as an
input for the formulae node (a loop in labVIEW) and the
output from the formulae nodes (that are calculated using
forward and inverse kinematics) are a series of angles
provided as an input for different motors. Robotic arm
executes the task accordingly from the calculated data
obtained in the autonomous control mode. Thus, after
reaching at the object’s location, arm grabs the object after
 actual the span is different the practical movement span for all
motors was found to be equal in rotational range of 120
degree to 145 degrees. These limitations must be consider
while designing servo-based system. In our study author
considered and accommodate above limitation.

8.2. Current Consumption

The current consumption of complete system were

varies according to different ARM position and movement
with and without load. Figure 12 shows actual current supply
build for the said robot ARM. There are different level of
current consumption according to various situation discussed
above: (also in Table 2)

Load Current Consumption Mode

30 grams Minimum Current Consumption
60 grams Average Current Consumption
120 grams Maximum Current Consumption
150 grams Maximum Current Consumption
180 grams Over Current Consumption
Table 2. Load vs. robot ARM Current consumption

Figure 13. Complete Power Supply with electronic circuit

7. TESTING AND VALLIDATION

Author did number of tests to validate the robot Figure 14. ARM in minimum current consumption mode
ARM operation. While during system design time, author put
so many test points and indication to validate, the steps to 8.3. Highest Load condition
check robotic ARM. The test routines are written to check the
working of each stage such as proving angle to motor to move Author recorded many results by doing so may
with the load, simultaneous movement of multiple motor, experimentation on the four DoF robotic ARM by moving it
gripper speed, holding the object in jaw, navigating object in different direction with different position, with different
through different angle and position, indicators, error display speed and for various load (size and weight) .The designed
box and lot more. ARM respond very well for all types of load whose size
The author at first tested single motor labVIEW code weight is less than 10cm and 100 grams respectively. Above
for each motor and then created subvis’ and after verifying the 100 grams up to 150 grams, it can sustain the load but get
response of movement towards the right position; thus final deteriorate in movement and speed response. If author further
code was designed by testing part by part. Testing and increase the load condition then it might be permanently,
validation is very crucial and require more time because of damage the motor and system.
number of iterations. While testing author faces so many
problem like the theoretical and practical robot position and 8.4. End position
angle difference generated because of wrong calibration of the
motor, damaging servo motor gears because of overload. The goal position was achieved with high precision
Author also face few problems regarding mechanical and accuracy for the small load size and weight, but as the
assembly. load properties increases system final position accuracy
deteriorate. The design of robot ARM especially link weight
8. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION plays a vital role. It is observe that
Motors could not generate enough torque for heavy loads. As
In this following section author discussed result of robotic author moves few motors synchronously with each other, the
condition at different working condition: vibration generate distortion in movement, to reach at the final
position accurately.
8.1. Limitation of Servo Motor Movement.

As discussed previously servomotors were placed in

this system as these motor had 180-degree rotation span. At
Figure 15. BLOCK Diagram of labVIEW in semi-autonomous mode control depending upon application e.g. parts welding, lifting,
moving, plating and painting etc. These robotic ARMS plays
9. LabVIEW programming vital role in automobile industry at assembly line they perform
single or multiple operation on the part such as moving,
LabVIEW has been widely used to interlink data positioning, aligning, drilling, welding, and placing jobs. The
acquisition, analysis and logic operations. LabVIEW is a said robotic ARM can be configured through centralized,
highly productive, development environment for creating remotely, distributed, standalone, or manually to execute
custom application that interact with the real world signals in range of operation with highest accuracy. These robots
fields such as science and engineering. Author interfaces normally mounted on either fixed base or on moving platform
LabVIEW with Arduino through LIFA file and thus, arduino to achieve flexibility. These are design such that they sustain
accepts all commands given in labVIEW. Author uses Case the maximum load and do their jobs smoothly with great
structures for classifying different control modes. LabVIEW accuracy and without failure
uses abstract Vis for initializing, configuring, terminating and
also to read and write data in Arduino. Figure 16. Shows Further advancement:
block diagram of labVIEW in semi-autonomous mode. Front  The Degree of Freedom is most important criteria, the
panel is the user interaction part of labVIEW. It provides more the DoF the more the smoothness, but it increases
control knobs in manual mode to operate arm movements and overall cost, power requirement, and complexity. So if
switch key for grabbing and release. In semi-autonomous there is no issue for cost, power requirement one can
mode, Front panel of labVIEW provides four angular inputs increase the DoF of robotic ARM.
that remains constant while running the program. While
 The system can be controlled and monitored through a
autonomous mode consist of only gripper switch,
web by making further improvement.
programming of autonomous mode is done in block diagram
 The main challenge is to move the complete robotic arm
in such a way that arm itself detects the object co-ordinates
from one location to other location (provided by the
and grabs the object through gripping command. It even
user).
releases the object at the place required by the user by
detecting the next co-ordinates where object needs to be
placed. This can be done either by giving the input co-
ordinates or by placing an obstacle at required co-ordinates.
Robotic arm will detect the obstacle stand and release the 10. Conclusion
object at specified location. The four DoF robot ARM design, development and
realization is presents in this paper; the said ARM performs
9. Application of robotic arm all the above-discussed tasks, required in automotive industry.
There are numerous application of robotic ARM To strengthen the robot structure robot ARM designed and
ranges from artificial limb to a giant robotic system. These construct using aluminum material and servos were used to
robotic ARM designed in different DoF with variable link execute links between joints and perform ARM movements.
length, incorporated with different motor, structure, and The labVIEW programming is done which is easy and
reduces the complexity of programming by making subvis. [8] Ansari, M.J., Amir, A., Hoque, M.A: “Microcontroller
The robot ARM is designed, considering various facts which based robotic ARM: Operational to gesture and automated
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