3.

Design and Drafting

Design of robotic arm means the human supervision on this operation should
be reduced. Our project is to create a robotic arm with multiple functions, such
as drilling, painting, welding, pick and place, etc. First, we determined that a
robotic arm can perform standard industrial tasks without the need for a
gripping tool for multipurpose use. We chose to design a 6-axis articulated
robotic arm that is capable of performing all of these tasks. It should be
adaptable enough to perform all tasks with improved accuracy and stability in
any workspace that is available. For this reason, we have observed other
robotic arms that are employed in industries for a specific function. For
example, different robots are used for welding, and other purposes call for
different robots altogether. Additionally, some robotic arms are heavy and
highly capable of being used in industrial settings. Thus, the robotic arm ought
to be lighter and just as useful for household purposes. So we decided to
3D-print the arm as it should be more precise and lighter than any other robots
used nowadays.
The outline of the total mechanism was drawn on the paper just giving us the
basic idea of the robotic arm which acts as a gateway to our imagination of
how the shapes should be.

3.1 Mechanical Design

The most important aspect and backbone of this thesis is the mechanical
design of the robotic arm. A robotic arm has certain design specifications and
certain parameters are to be taken into the consideration. Since, the design is
an area related to thought, many varieties of designs come to the mind at the
initial stages of the design. Everything might not be fruitful and the trial and
error method cannot be trusted blindly. So, keeping all these things in mind,
we have decided to design the robotic arm whose dimensions are loosely
based on the dimension standards of Fanuc robotic arm. The basic points to
be noted and followed for the design.

Functionality: The arm should have the ability to lift, move, lower and release
an object while closely mimicking the motion of the human arm with full
extension. The choice of the number of the parts in this particular robotic arm
is taken by comparing it with a human arm. Let the action of human hand
picking up a container appear in your mind. We have the waist, shoulder,
elbow, arm, wrist and fingers do the job. This is the motivation for the choice
of the number of parts. This robotic arm also has 6 parts and 6 joints which
are pretty much like the human hand
Reliability: The device should be able to consistently do operations in a
smooth manner. i.e, the motion of the device should be smooth enough to not
drop the objects that are being lifted or the welding process should be done
smoothly. So, for our multipurpose operation we decided to use a
multipurpose end-effector. As for the smooth operation of different purposes, it
should have different curvature and path points at which it should do
respective operations as needed so it should be having

Motion Range and Speed: Like human body the robots are constructed with
same joints between bones, here we have a constrained limit for the
movement of axis. In our design application, every particular axis has its own
capacity of motion. The degree of movement of robot is calibrated from centre
base of axis. The complete motion of the operation is recorded in terms of
degrees travelled per second.

Payload: The limited weight of each robot is its payload. So, the critical
specifications and tooling weights are sotted out. In our application, this is
useful in specifying different categories of robots by the above specifications.
As the arm is going to be 3D-printed the plastic material which is to chosed
will be also a major point in payloading of arm

Reach: In our articulated robot, we need to check the two extremities that is
nothing but the V-reach and H-reach. Vertical reach is considered to know
how high our robot can go in terms of height extension. Whereas the
Horizontal reach is considered to know the distance of fully extended arm from
base to wrist. In few other applications, we need to even consider a short
Horizontal reach.

Axes: The distinctive segments of our robot are associated with mechanical
joints, that serves as an axis of movement. We have designed our articulated
robot with 6-axis of movement because generally according to our knowledge
industrial robots are designed to have 6-axis of movement, as the number and
placement of robot gives flexibility variation for each model.
3.2. Part 1
The first part designed in this project is this. It is because, based on its
measurements we must measure remaining parts. And the weight of all other
parts including the payload will have its great effect on this part since it is the
base of this robotic arm. This part is an assembly of two different parts. Part 1
must rotate on its axis and other parts are connected to this. So, it is the main
source of transportation. The two sub parts in this assembly are upper part
and a shaft.

It is designed by the concept of gear transmission by the motor which is going

to be in base and this part will be the first part from base and the part which is
going to be the main pillar of the arm as most of the payload will be delivered
onto this part.
Mass = 1616.56 grams
Volume = 1616560.63 cubic millimetres
Surface area = 222016.22 square millimetres
3.3 Part 2

This part can be compared to the bicep of the human arm. Like the muscle of
the human arm, it moves very less when compared to the forearm but it
provides the strength and hold for the forearm and wrist to do their jobs
An end of this arm is connected to part 1 creating joint 2 and the other end is
connected to the part 3 to create joint 3. The design of this arm is shown
below. The dimensions are tabulated in the later part of document. The upper
end of the part is having a shaft to make itself rotate around the axis of the
joint between part 1 and part 2

Dimensions of this arm are:-

Mass = 930.31 grams
Volume = 930313.90 cubic millimetres
Surface area = 225449.22 square millimetres
Length = 370.12 millimetres
Width = 134.11 millimetres
Height = 90.23 millimetres
3.4 Part 3
This part is the forearm of this robotic arm. The reach of this robot mainly
depends upon this part. This is a bit longer than part 2. The movement of this
part is more when compared to the other parts. This part with part 2 creates a
joint which is like the elbow in the human arm. The main purpose of these two
arms is sustaining the weight that is lifted by the arm. One end of this arm is
connected to part 2 as describe earlier. The other end is connected to part 4
which is a kind of wrist to this hand. The power source for this arm is given to
the shaft on the left end in the picture below. The dimensions of this part are:

Mass = 520.42 grams

Volume = 520423.62 cubic millimeters
Surface area = 155494.44 square millimeters
Length = 321.2 millimetres
Width = 120 millimetres
Height = 75 millimetres
3.5 Part 4

Now we have arrived at the wrist part of the hand. It has the ability to rotate
around the axis at the end of part 3 (around X axis). It can rotate 360 degrees
on the axis. How much it should rotate can be adjusted as per the requirement
of the user. It also holds the end effecter (Part 6) in the desired position. Part 4
being the stable one, it lets part 5 rotate around Y axis.

Mass = 207.09 grams

Volume = 207087.57 cubic millimeters
Surface area = 69963.76 square millimeters
Length = 138.87millimetres
Width = 73.59 millimetres
Height = 50 millimetres
3.6 Part 5 & 6

This part 5 is the one that rotates around Y axis. This part swings in up and
down motion and also called as the wrist swing part. It will give a Hand up and
down motion. As it is for more flexible motion of the arm in more directions
and occupying more workspace.

Mass = 182.47 grams

Volume = 182471.73 cubic millimetres
Surface area = 31375.82 square millimetres
Length = 104.75 millimetres
Width = 58 millimetres
Height = 58 millimetres

The part 6 is the last part to be connected to the end effector and can rotate
along X-axis. The rotation of this part is 360°.
3.7 Assembly

After creating all the part the process of assembling all the part starts. In which
firstly there is the joint 1 which is in between the base and the part 1. The
assembly has the arm with the wrist and end effector. If we describe the
functionality of the robotic arm, it is a six degrees of freedom system. Six
degrees of freedom (6DOF) refers to the freedom of movement of a rigid body
in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to change position as
forward/backward (surge), up/down (heave), left/right (sway) translation in
three perpendicular axes, combined with changes in orientation through
rotation about three perpendicular axes, often termed pitch, yaw, and roll. The
part in the yellow rotates around its axis.

3.7.1 Joint 1 (Waist & Shoulder)

The base is fixed on the surface which is connected with screw on surface
and got it rigid on surface. This joint is the result of the gear mechanism of the
two gears in which one gear is attach with the stepper motor and another one
is printed on the part 1 as already seen above fig. of part 1. In which the base
is our boxed in which there is the motor and the gear mechanism.There is a
thrust bearing which gives the part 1 to rotate smoothly and working will be
reliable.
As the base will be at the bottom and most of the payload will be acting on it
the torque acting on it will be the most because of the moment of inertia acting
on it.
For which we have,

Mass m = 3.27 kg acting upon the base from other parts of the arm

Distance d = 101.66 mm from the center of mass of above parts to the surface
of base

Then we get,

Torque T = mg * d
= 3.27*10*101.66*10-3

Torque of the base part = 3.258 Nm