UNIT 1- FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT

ROBOT
A robot is an autonomous machine capable of sensing its environment, carrying
out computations to make decisions, and performing actions in the real world.
ROBOTICS
It is multidimensional area which uses almost all of the engineering studies.
These studies are mechanical engineering, electronic sensors, actuators,
computer sciences and artificial intelligence.
Extrapolating from nature
As an example humans and animals have arms and fingers to manipulate
objects. Legs for locomotion, muscles as actuators, eyes provide vision, nose for
smelling, ears for hearing, tongue for tasting, skin for feeling and nerves for
communication between the brain and actuators.
Comparing robots to humans
Manipulation is equal to Arms and fingers driven by motors and other forms of
actuation. Vision is equal to camera. Hearing is equal to microphone. Feeling is
equal to tactile sensors. Communication is equal to wires, fiber optics and radio.
Brain is equal to computers and microprocessors. Smell and taste are still under
development.
ROBOT ANATOMY
Robot Anatomy is concerned with the physical construction of the body, arm,
and wrist of the machine. Most robots used in plants today are mounted on a
base which is fastened to the floor. The body is attached to the base and the arm
assembly is attached to the body. At the end of the arm is the wrist. The wrist
consists of a number of components that allow it to be oriented in a variety of
positions. Relative movements between the various components of body, arm,
and wrist are provided by a series of joints. These joint movements usually
involve either rotating or sliding motions. The body arm and wrist assembly is
called the manipulator. Attached to the robot’s wrist is a hand or a tool called the
“end effector”. The end effector is not considered as part of the robot’s anatomy.
The arm and body joints of the manipulator are used to position the end effector,
and the wrist joints of the manipulator are used to orient the end effector.
Four Common Robot Configurations
1. Polar Configuration (Spherical)
2. Cylindrical Configuration
3. Cartesian coordinate Configuration
4. Jointed arm configuration

Polar Configuration
 It uses a arm that can be raised or lowered about a horizontal pivot
 The pivot is mounted on a rotating base.
 The various joints provide the robot with capability to movie its arm
within a spherical space and hence it is also called as “Spherical
Coordinate Robot” .
 It has one linear and two rotary motions.

Advantages
 Larger work envelope than the rectilinear or cylindrical configuration 
Vertical structure conserves less space

Disadvantages
 Repeatability and accuracy are also lower in the direction of rotary motion
 Requires more sophisticated control system

Applications
 Die casting
 Forging
 Glass handling
 Injection Molding
 Stacking and unstacking

Cylindrical Configuration
 Cylindrical configuration uses a vertical column and a slide that can be
moved up or down along the column.
 The robot arm is attached to the slide so that it can be moved with respect
to the column.
 By rotating the column, the robot is capable of achieving a work space
that approximates a cylinder

Advantages
 It has higher load carrying capacity
 It provides high rigidity to the manipulator
 It is generally suitable for pick and place applications

Disadvantages
 It requires more floor space
 It has a reduced mechanical rigidity because robots with a rotary axis must
overcome the inertial of the object when rotating

Applications
 Conveyer pallet transfers
 Machine tool loading
 Forging applications
 Packing operation
 Precision small assembly

Cartesian coordinate robot

Cartesian or rectangular coordinate configuration is constructed by three

perpendicular slides, giving only linear motions along the three principal
axes.
 It consists of three prismatic joints.
 The endpoints of the arm are capable of operating in a cuboidal space
  The cartesian arm gives high precision and is easy to program
 These robots are also called XYZ robots because they are equipped with
three rotary joints to assemble XYZ axes.

Advantages
 Highly Accurate and speed
 Fewer costs
 Simple operating procedures
 High payloads

Limitations
 Less work envelope
 Low dexterity
 Limited maniplability

Applications
 Pick and Place
 Material handling
 Loading
 Unloading

Jointed Arm Configuration

 Widely-used jointed arm configuration is similar to that of a human arm.
 It comprises two straight links representing the human forearm and upper
arm and two rotary joints representing the elbow and shoulder joints,
 which are mounted on a vertical rotary table corresponding to the human
waist joint.
 As a result, it can be controlled at any adjustments in the workspace.

Advantages
 Increased flexibility,
 Huge work volume and
 Quick operation.

Disadvantages
 Very expensive
 Difficult operating procedures
 Plenty of components

Applications
 Spray Painting
 Spot Welding
 Arc Welding
SCARA
 SCARA body and arm configuration does not use a separate wrist
assembly.
 Its usual operative environment is for insertion-type assembly operations
where wrist joints are unnecessary.
 The other four body and arm configurations more or less follow the wrist-
joint configuration by deploying various combinations of rotary joints.
 Advantages
 It offer high speed and precision for tasks like assembly and packaging.
 Efficient use of work space.

Disadvantages
 It has limited range of motion.
 It lacks flexibility for tasks requiring intricate, multi-axis operations.

Applications
 Assembly Automation
 Pick-and-Place
 Packaging Solutions
 Material Handling

CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM
 A coordinate system defines a plane or space by axes from a fixed point
called the origin.
 Robot targets and positions are located by measurements along the axes
of coordinate systems.
 A robot uses several coordinate systems, each suitable for specific types
of programming.
 The Robots are mostly divided into four major configurations based on
their appearances, sizes, etc. such as:

 Cylindrical Configuration,
 Polar Configuration,
  Jointed Arm Configuration, and
 Cartesian Co-ordinate Configuration.

Mechanical joints of the robots:

 Linear joint- type L joint – the relative movement between the input
link and the output link is a translational sliding motion, with the axes of
the two links parallel
 Orthogonal joint- type O joint – the relative movement between the
input link and the output link is a translational sliding motion, but the
output link is perpendicular to the input link
 Rotational joint- type R joint – this provides rotational relative motion,
with the axes of rotation perpendicular to the axes of the input and output
links
 Twisting joint- type T joint – this provides rotary motion, but the axis of
rotation is parallel to the axis of the two links
 Revolving joint- type V joint – the axis of the input link is parallel to the
axis of rotation of the joint, and the axis of the output link is
perpendicular to the axes of rotation.

1. Jointed-arm robot
 Jointed-arm robot- general configuration of a human arm.
 This consists of a vertical column that swivels about the base using T
joint.
 At the top of the column is a shoulder joint (an R joint), output of an
elbow joint (another R joint).

2. Cylindrical coordinate system

  Cylindrical configuration consists of a vertical column, relative to
which an arm assembly is moved in and out relative to the axis of the
column.
 Common configuration is to use a T-joint to rotate the column about it
axes.
 An L joint is used to move the arm assembly vertically along the
column, while O joint is used to achieve radial movement of the arm.
 Typically used foe loading- unloading operations of different machine
tools.

3. Cartesian coordinate system

 Cartesian coordinate robot- x-y-z- robot, consists of three sliding
joints.
 Main application area loading, palletizing, transporting, simple works.
 Cartesian robots are also called rectilinear or gantry robots and have a
rectangular configuration.
 These types of industrial robots have three prismatic joints to deliver
linear motion by sliding on its three perpendicular axes (X, Y and Z).
 They might also have an attached wrist to allow rotational movement.

4. SCARA type robot

  Similar in construction to the jointer-arm-robot, expect that the
shoulder and elbow rotational axes are vertical, which means that
the arm is very rigid in the vertical direction, but compliant in the
horizontal direction.

Coordinate systems of the robot-cell

 The main function of a robot control software (e.g. RobotWare) is
the motion control of a robot.
 The motion of robot’s manipulator joints, the tool or the gripper can
be described in different coordinate systems.
 These coordinate systems are used for the realization of several
control functions, including off-line programming, program
adjustment, coordination of the motion of several robots or a robot
and additional servodrives, jogging motion, copy of programs from
one robot to another, etc.
 In the motion control the control of the gripper or tool motion is the
most important.
 Because different types of grippers and tools have different
dimensions, a special point, not depending on the type of the tool
and called tool centre point (TCP) is selected.
 This point is the origin point of the tool coordinate system. A similar
point can be used to describe the gripper or the wrist coordinate
system.
 The position of the robot and its movements are always related to
the tool centre point (TCP).
 This point is normally defined as being somewhere on the tool, e.g.
on top of the welding electrode or at the centre of a gripper.
 When a position is recorded, it is the position of the TCP that is
recorded.
 This is also the point that moves along a given path at a given
velocity.
  If the robot holding a work object and is working on a stationary
tool, a stationary TCP is used.
 If that tool is active, the programmed path and speed are related to
the work object.

Tool coordinate system

 The orientation of a tool at a programmed position is given by the
orientation of the tool coordinate system.
 The tool coordinate system refers to the wrist coordinate system,
defined at the mounting flange on the wrist of the robot.
 The tool mounted on the mounting flange of the robot often requires
its own coordinate system to enable the definition of its TCP, which
is the origin of the tool coordinate system.
 The tool coordinate system can also be used to get appropriate
motion directions when jogging the robot.
 If a tool is damaged or replaced, the tool coordinate system must be
redefined.

Wrist coordinate system

 The wrist coordinate system can be used to define the orientation of
the tool; here the z-axis is coincident with axis 6 of the robot.
 The wrist coordinate system cannot be changed and is always the
same as the mounting flange of the robot in the following respects:
 The origin is situated at the centre of the mounting flange (on the
mounting surface).

 The x-axis points in the opposite direction, towards the control hole
of the mounting flange.
  The z-axis points outwards, at right angles to the mounting flange.

Base coordinate system

 Base coordinate system is linked to the mounting base and stationary
base of a robot.
 In a simple application, programming can be done in the base
coordinate system; here the z-axis is coincident with axis 1 of the
robot.
 In this case:
 The origin is situated at the intersection of axis 1 and the base
mounting surface.
 The xy plane is the same as the base mounting surface.
 The x-axis points forwards.
 The y-axis points to the left (from the perspective of the
robot). – The z-axis points upwards.

World coordinate system

  World coordinate system will be coincident with the base coordinate
system if it is not specifically defined.
 If several robots work within the same working space at a plant, a
common world coordinate system is used to enable the robot
programs to communicate with one another.
 It can also be advantageous to use this type of a system when the
positions are to be related to a fixed point in the workshop.

The user coordinate system

 The user coordinate system is related to the essential points of the
technological process.
 A robot can work with different fixtures or working surfaces having
different positions and orientations.
 A user coordinate system can be defined for each fixture. If all
positions are stored in object coordinates, no need to reprogram if a
fixture must be moved or turned.
 By moving (translating or turning) the user coordinate system as
much as the fixture has been translated or turned, all programmed
positions will follow the fixture and no reprogramming will be
required.
 The user coordinate system is defined based on the world coordinate
system.
Object coordinate system
 Object coordinate system is a coordinate system targeted to an
object.
 Normally the user coordinate system is used to get different
coordinate systems for different fixtures or working surfaces.
 A fixture, however, may include several work objects that are to be
processed or handled by the robot.
 Thus, it often helps to define a coordinate system for each object in
order to make it easier to adjust the program if the object is moved
 or if a new object, the same as the previous one, is to be
programmed at a different location.
 This coordinate system is also very well suited for off-line
programming since the positions specified can usually be taken
directly from a drawing of the work object.
 The object coordinate system can also be used when jogging the
robot.
 The object coordinate system is defined based on the user coordinate
system.

WORK ENVELOP
 It is the shape created when a manipulator reaches forward, backward,
up and down.
 These distances are determined by the length of a robot's arm and the
design of its axes.
 Each axis contributes its own range of motion.
 A robot can only perform within the confines of this work envelope.
 Still, many of the robots are designed with considerable flexibility.
 Some have the ability to reach behind themselves.
 Gantry robots defy traditional constraints of work envelopes.
 They move along track systems to create large work spaces.