UNIT V

ROBOT ACTUATION SYSTEMS

Unit 5: Robot Actuation Systems

Actuators: Electric, Hydraulic and Pneumatic; Transmission: Gears, Timing Belts and
Bearings, Parameters for selection of actuators. Control Hardware and Interfacing:
Embedded systems: Architecture and integration with sensors, actuators, components,
Programming for Robot Applications

Actuators are essential devices in robotics and widely common, particularly for industrial
applications.

Actuation is the process of conversion of energy to mechanical form. An actuator is a

hardware device that accomplishes this conversion. It converts a controller command signal
into a change in a physical parameter.

Actuators come in various types and sizes, depending on the load associated with factors like
force, torque, speed of operation, precision, accuracy, and power consumption. One of the
prevalent types of actuators is electric motors such as servomotor, stepper motor, and direct
current (DC) motors. A motor allows the robot to control a wheel, a switch, or even an arm.

Robot manufacturers usually use electric actuators since they are fast, efficient, and accurate.
They are easy to control, can achieve high velocities (1000 – 10000 rpm), and have ideal
torque for driving. At the same time, they are very weak or unpleasantly heavy because of
their complexity.

Servo motor is a mechanism based on feedback control. It has a high maximum torque/force
that allows high (de)acceleration. It is robust and has a high bandwidth that provides accurate
and fast control.

Key advantages of servo motors are as follows:

• Power supply available everywhere.

• Low cost
• Large variety of products
• High power conversion efficiency
• Easy maintenance
• No pollution in the working environment
The disadvantages are:

• Overheating in static conditions

• Need special protection in flammable environments.
Stepper motors provide rotation in the form of discrete angular displacement. They can
achieve precision angular rotation in both directions and are commonly employed to
accommodate digital control technology. Stepper motors are, in general, heavier than
 servomotors for the same power. The high the voltage of electric motors, the better the power-
to-weight ratio.

Then, we have electromechanical actuators that convert electrical energy into mechanical
energy. Based on the basic principle of magnetism, they come in DC, AC, and stepper motors.

The third option is hydraulic and pneumatic actuators, which use fluid power and
compressed air, respectively. Fluid power refers to the energy that is transmitted via a fluid
under pressure. When pressure is applied to a confined chamber containing a piston, the piston
will exert a force causing a motion. Pneumatic systems deliver the lowest power-to-weight ratio,
while hydraulic systems have the highest power-to-weight ratio. Pneumatic actuators are mostly
used for the opening and closing of grippers.

Hydraulic systems are very stiff and non-compliant, whereas pneumatic systems are
easily compressed and thus are compliant. Notably, stiff systems have a more rapid response to
changing loads and pressures and are more accurate. Although stiffness causes more responsive
and more accurate systems, it also creates a danger if all things are not always perfect.
Hydraulic actuators are very efficient, yet their cost is high.

Here are the advantages of a hydraulic actuator.

• Easy to control and accurate

• Simpler and easier to maintain

• Constant torque or force regardless of speed changes

• Easy to spot leakages of system
•Less noise
Disadvantages of the hydraulic actuator.

• Proper maintenance is required

• Expensive
• Leakage of the fluid creates environmental problems
•Wrong hydraulic fluid for a system can damage the components
Advantages of pneumatic actuators

• Clean, less pollution to the environment

• Inexpensive
• Safe and easy to operate
 Disadvantages of pneumatic actuators

• Loud and noisy

• Lack of precision controls
• Sensitive to vibrations
• The fourth type of actuators is called piezoelectric actuators, which are successfully
implemented in many applications today. They use the piezoelectric effect to create motion.
When electricity flows through a piezoelectric material, it creates a physical deformation
proportional to the applied electric field, known as the indirect piezoelectric effect.

• Piezoelectric actuators are used in loudspeakers, piezoelectric motors, acceleration

sensors, vibration sensors, etc., and can be used to create either rotational or linear motion.
These actuators’ main advantages are their very high dynamics (up to 40 kHz), theoretically
unlimited resolution (in the field of nanometers), high force, low consumption of electrical
energy, and very compact construction.

• Another significant advantage is the possibility of having the actuator, force sensor,
and position sensor contained in a one-piece unit. However, the main problem with
implementing piezoelectric actuators is the small oscillating movements caused by its
expansion and contraction.

Ideal Characteristics of Actuators

• Weight, power-to-weight ratio, operating pressure

• Stiffness against deformation
• Appropriate torque output.
• High torque density or the continuous output torque per mass
• High back drivability that protects the system against damage in environmental
impacts, especially unexpected ones.
• High transparency and smooth energy flows between the actuator and end effector in
both directions.
• High Efficiency.
Robot Programming

According to the consistent performance by the

robots in industries, the robot programming can be divided
in two common types such as:

Leadthrough Programming
Method Textual Robot
Languages Leadthrough

Programming Method:

During this programming method, the traveling of robots is

based on the desired movements, and it is stored in the external
controller memory. There are two modes of a control system in this
method such as a run mode and teach mode. The program is taught in
the teach mode, and it is executed in the run mode. The lead through
programming method can be done by two methods namely:

Powered
Leadthrough Method
Manual Leadthrough
Method
a) Powered Leadthrough Method:

The powered leadthrough is the common programming method

in the industries. A teach pendant is incorporated in this method for
controlling the motors available in the joints. It is also used to operate
the robot wrist and arm through a sequence of points. The playback of
an operation is done by recording these points. The control of complex
geometric moves is difficultto perform in the teach pendant. As a result,
this method is good for point to point movements. Some of the key
applications are spot welding, machine loading & unloading, and part
transfer process.

b) Manual Leadthrough Method:

In this method, the robot’s end effector is moved physically by

the programmer at the desired movements. Sometimes, it may be
difficult to move large r b t arm manually. To get rid of it ateach button
is implemented in the wrist for special programming. The manual
leadthrough method is also known as Walk Through method. It is
mainly used to perform continuous path movements. This
methodisbestforspraypaintingandarc welding operations.

Textual Robot Languages:

In 1973, WAVE language was developed, nd it is the first textual

robot language as well. It is used to interface the machine vision sys em
with the robot. Then AL language was introduced in 1974 for
controlling multiple robot arms during arm coordination. VAL was
nvented in 1979, and it is the common textu l robot language. Later, this
language was dated in 1984, and called as VAL II. The IBM Corpor tion
has established their two own languages such as AMLand AUTOPASS,
which is used for the assembly operations.

Other important textual robot languages are Manufacturing Control

Language (MCL), RAIL, and Automatic Programmed Tooling (APT)
anguages.

Robot Programming Methods

There are three bas c methods for programming industrial robots

but currently over 90% are programmed using the each method.

Teach Method

The logic for the program can be generated either using a menu
based system or simply using a text editor but the main characteristic of
this method is the means by which the robot is taught the positional data.
A teach pendant with controls to drive the robot in a number of different
co-ordinate systems is used to manually drive the robot to the desired
locations.

These locations are then stored with names that can be used
within the robot program. The co-ordinate systems available on a
standard jointed arm robot are :-
JointCo-ordinates

The robot joints are driven independently in either direction.

Global Co-ordinates

The tool centre point of the robot can be driven along the X, Y or Z axes of
the robots global axis system. Rotations of the tool around these axes can also be
performed
Tool Co-ordinates

Similar to the global co-ordinate system but the axes of this one are
attached to the tool centre point of the robot and therefore move with it.
This system is especially useful when the tool is near to the workpiece.

Workpiece Co-ordinates

With many robots it is possible to set up a co-ordinate system at any point

within the working area. These can be especially useful where small adjustments to
the program are required as it is easier to make them along a major axis of the co-
ordinate system than along a general line. The effect of this is similar to moving the
position and orientation of the global co-ordinate system.

This method of programming is very simple to use where simple

movements are required. It does have the disadvantage that the robot can be out of
production for a long time during reprogramming. While this is not a problem
where robots do the sa e task for their entire life, this is becoming less common and
some robotic welding syste s are performing tasks only a few times before being
reprogrammed.

Lead Through

This system of programming was initially popular but has now almost
disappeared. It is still however used by many paint spraying robots. The
robot is programmed by being physically moved through the task by an
operator. This is exceedingly difficult where large robots are being used and
sometimes a smaller version of the robot is u ed for this purpose. Any
hesitations or inaccuracies that are introduced into the progr m c nnot be
edited out easily without reprogramming the whole task. The robot con
roller simply records the joint positions at a fixed time interval and then
plays this back.

Off-line Programming

Similar to the way in which CAD systems re being used to generate NC

programs for milling machines it is also possible to program robots from CAD
data. The CAD models of the components are used along with mo e s of the robots
being used and the fixturing required. The program structure is built up in much the
same way as for teach programming but intelligent tools are available which allow
the CAD data to be used to generate sequences of location and process information.
At present there are only a few companies using this technology as it is still in its
infancy but its use ncreas ng each year. The benefits of this form of programming
are:-

· Reduced down time for programming.

· Programming tools make programming easier.

· Enables concurrent engineering and reduces product lead time.

· Assists cell design and allows process optimisation

Programming Languages for Robotics

This article is all about giving an introduction about some of the

programming languages which are used to design Robots.

There are many programming languages which we use while building

Robots, we have a few programming languages which we always prefer to use in
designing. Actually the programming languages which we use mainly depend on
the hardware one is using in building robots. Some of them are- URBI, C and
BASIC. URBI is an open source language. In this article we will try to know more
about these languages. Let's start with URBI.

URBI : URBI stands for Universal Real-time Behavior Interface. It is a

client/server based interpreted language in which Robot works as a client and
controller as a server. It makes us to learn about the commands which we give to
Robots and receive messages from them. The interpreter and wrapped server are
called as "URBI Engine". The URBI Engine uses commands from Client and
receives messages to it. This language allows user to work on basic Perception-
action principle. The users just have to write some simple loops on the basis of this
principle directly in URBI.

PYTHON : There is another language which is used in designing Robots. Python

is an object-oriented language which is used to access and control Robots. Python
is an interpreted language; this language has an application in working with mobile
robots, particularly those manufactured by different companies. With python it is
possible to use a single program for controlling many different robots. However
Python is slower than C++ but it has so e good sides as well as it proved very easy
to interact with robots using this language, it is highly portable and can be run in
windows and MAC OSX plus it can easily be extendable using C and C++
language. Python is a very reliable language for string manipulation and text pro
essing.

ROBOTC : Other Languages which we use are C,C++ and C # etc. or their
implementation, like ROBOTC, ROBOTC is an implementation of C language. If
we are designing a simple

Robot, we do not need assembly code, but in complex de igning we need well-
defined codes. ROBOTC is another programming language which is C-based. It is
actually a text based programming language. The commands which we w nt to give
to our Robot, first written on the screen in the form of simple text, now as we know
that Robot is a kind of machine and a machine only understands machine langu ge.
So these commands need to be converted in machine language so that robot can
easily underst nd and do whatever it is instructed to do.

Although commands are given in text form (called as codes) but this
language is very specific about the commands which is provi ed as instruction. If
we do even a minor change in given text it will not accept it command. If the
command which is provided to it is correct it colorizes that text, and we came to
know that the given command in text form is correct (as we have shown in our
example gi en below). Programming done in ROBOTC is very easy to do.
Commands given are very stra ghtforward. Like if we want our robot to switch on
any hardware part, we just have to give code regarding to that action in text form.
Suppose we want robot to turn motor of port, we just have to give command in this
way:

Although program above is not exactly shown in the way in which it should
be written, this is just to provide you a visualization of what we have told you. This
is not written in an appropriate manner.ROBOTC provide advantage of speed, a
Robot programmed in ROBOTC programming supports 45 times more speed than
 provided by other programming based on C plus it has a very powerful debugging
feature.

ROBOTICS.NXT :

ROBOTICS.NXT has a support for a simple message-based control. It direct

commands, nxt-upload is one of its programs which is used to upload any file. It
works on Linux. After getting introduction on programming languages, it becomes
necessary to know something about MRDS as well, MRDS is an environment
which is designed especially for controlling robots.

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio is an environment given for

simulation purpose of Robots. It is based on a .net library concurrent
implementation. This environment has support so that we can add other services as
well. It has features which not only include creating and debugging Robot
Applications but also it becomes easy to interact with sensors directly. C#
programming language is used as a primary language in it. It has 4 main
components:

• Visual Programming Language (VPL)

• Visual simulation environment (VSE)

Concurrency and coordination Runtime is a synchronous progra ing library

based on .net framework. Although it is a component of MRDS but it can be used
with any application. DSS is also a .net runtime environment, In DSS services are
exp sed as resources which one can access through programs. DSS uses DSSP
(Decentralizes software services protocol) and HTTP.

If we want to graphics and visual effects in our programming, we use VPL.

Visual Programming language is a programming language which allows us to
create programs by doing manipulations in programming languages graphic lly. We
 use boxes and arrows in this kind of programming while we want to show dataflow
kind of hings.

Visual programming langu ge h s huge application in animations. The last

component which we are going to describe is Visual Simulation Environment. VSE
provides simulates physical objects. Visual Simulation environment is an
integrated environment for picture-based, object oriented and component based
applications of simulation.

Programming in robotics is a very vast topic that we cant cover in a single

article. This is just an introduction for those who want to get an idea about using
languages in building of robots

Motion Commands and the Control of Effectors

Real-time systems are slaves to the clock. They achieve the illusion
of smooth behavior by rapidly updating set of control signals many times per
second. For example, to smoothly turn a robot's head to the right, the head must
accelerate, travel at constant velocity for a while, and then decelerate. This is
accomplished by making many small adjustments to the motor torques. Another
example: to get the robot's LEDs to blink repeatedly, they must be turned on for a
certain period of time, then turned off for another length of time, and so forth. To
get them to glow steadily at medium intensity, they must be turned on and off very
rapidly.

The robot's operating system updates the states of all the effectors
(servos, motors, LEDs, etc.) every few milliseconds. Each update is called a
"frame", and can accommodate simultaneous changes to any number of effectors.
On the AIBO, updates occur every 8 milliseconds and frames are buffered four at a
time, so the application must have a new buffer available every 32 milliseconds;
other robots may use different update intervals. In Tekkotsu these buffers of frames
are produced by the MotionManager, whose job is to execute a collection of
simultaneously active MotionCommands (MCs) of various types every few
milliseconds. The results of these MotionCommands are assembled into a buffer
that is passed to the operating system (Aperios for the AIBO, or Linux for other
robots). Suppose we want the robot to blink its LEDs on and off at a rate of once
per second. What we need is a MotionCommand that will calculate new states for
 the LEDs each time the MotionManager asks for an update. LedMC, a subclass of
both Motion Command and LedEngine, performs this service. If we create an
instance of LedMC, tell it the frequency at which to blink the LEDs, and add it to
the MotionManager's list of active MCs, then it will do all the work for us. There's
just one catch: our application is running in the Main process, while the
MotionManager runs in a separate Motion process. This is necessary to assure that
potentially lengthy computations taking place in Main don't prevent Motion from
running every few milliseconds. So how can we communicate with our
MotionCommand while at the same time making it available to the Motion
Manager.

Applications of Industrial Robots

Machine Loading

Machine loading The first application of industrial robots was in unloading

die-casting machines. In die casting the two halves of a mould or die are held together
in a press while molten metal, typically zinc or aluminium, is injected under pressure.
The die is cooled by water; when the metal has solidified the press opens and a robot
extracts the casting and dips it in a quench tank to cool it further. The robot then
places the casting in a trim press where the unwanted parts are cut off. The robot often
grips the casting by the sprue. (The sprue is the part of the casting which has
solidified in the channels through which molten metal is pumped to the casting
proper. Several castings may be made at once; in this case they are connected to the
sprue by runners. When the sprue and runners are cut off by the trim press, the press
must automatically eject the casting(s) onto a conveyor.
 Spray Painting

Fig 5.1 Spray Painting

Spray painting the major application of industrial robot particularly in Automobile

manufacturing industries. This technology is used to perform spray painting of
automobile spare parts and all the automobile components.

TEXT/REFERENCE BOOKS:
1.Saha, S.K., “Introduction to Robotics, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New Delhi, 2014.
2. Ashitava Ghosal., “Fundamental Concepts and Analysis”, Oxford, New Delhi, 2006.
3. Mikell.P.Groover, Mitchell Weiss, Roger.N.Nagel, Nicholas.G.Odrey, “Industrial Robotics-Technology,
Programming and Applications”, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, Third
Reprint 2008