Robotics and Automation

Robotics and Automation

By
Dr. Pooja P. Gundewar
 Unit 1

Elements of Robotics
Part II
SENSORS IN ROBOTS – INTERNAL
• Internal sensors measure variables for control
• Joint position.
• Joint velocity.
• Joint torque/force.
• Joint position sensors (angular or linear)
• Incremental & absolute encoders — Optical, magnetic or
capacitive.
• Potentiometers.
• Linear analog resistive or digital encoders.
• Joint velocity sensors
• DC tacho-generator & resolvers
• Optical encoders.
• Force/torque sensors.
• At joint actuators for control.
• At wrist to measure components of force/moment being applied
on environment.
• At end-effector to measure applied force on gripped object.
SENSORS IN ROBOTS – EXTERNAL
• Detection of environment variables for robot guidance, object
identification and material handling.
• Two main types – Contact and non-contact sensors.
• Contact sensors: Respond to a physical contact
• Touch: switches, Photo-diode/LED combination. Slip.
• Tactile: resistive/capacitive arrays.
• Non-contact sensors: Detect variations in optical, acoustic or
electromagnetic radiations or change in position/orientation.
• Proximity: Inductive, Capacitive, Optical and Ultrasonic
• Range: Capacitive and Magnetic, Camera, Sonar, Laser range finder,
Structured light.
• Color sensors.
• Speed/Motion: Doppler radar/sound, Camera, Accelerometer,
Gyroscope.
• Identification: Camera, RFID, Laser ranging, Ultrasound.
• Localization: Compass, Odometer, GPS.
Joint rotation optical encoder
SENSORS FOR JOINT ROTATION

• Potentiometers – Voltage ∝ resistance and resistance ∝ rotation at

joint
• Not very accurate but very inexpensive.
• More suitable for slow rotations.
• Adds to joint friction.
• Resolvers – Rotary electrical transformer to measure joint rotation
• Analog output, need ADC for digital control.
• Electromagnetic device — Stator + Rotor (connected to motor
shaft).
• Voltage (at stator) ∝ sin(θ), θ = rotor angle.
• Tachometers measures joint velocity
• Similar to resolver.
• Voltage (at stator) ∝ θ˙ , θ˙ = angular velocity of the rotor.
• Analog output → ADC required for digital control.
FORCE/TORQUE SENSOR
• Employed for force/torque sensing – Can be achieved by joint and
wrist sensing.
• Force/Torque joint sensors
• Direct sensing of force/torque in a compliant shaft attached to
motor by means of strain gages.
• Force/torque wrist sensors
• Mounted between end of robot arm and end-effector.
• Can measure all six components of force/torque using strain
gages.
• Extensively used in force control.

The output of a strain gage is a variable resistance, proportional to the strain

Piezaresistive effect
• The strain gauge is a passive, resistive transducer which converts
the mechanical elongation and compression into a resistance
change.
• This change in resistance takes place due to variation in length and
cross sectional area of the gauge wire, when an external force acts
on it.
• R=
• The type of strain gauge are as
•1. Wire gauge : Unbonded, Bonded, Foil type
•2. Semiconductor gauge
• Stress = E* strain, Stress = F/A, Strain = ∆L/L =
• E= modulus of elasticity
• Poisson’s ratio = = -
• Gauge factor = strain gage sensitivity = =
•= *=*

• = 1+ 2
• Signal conditioning circuit – wheatstone bridge ckt
• -Full bdg
• Half bdg
• Quarter bdg
• A strain gage has a gage factor of 4. If strain gage is attached to a
metal bar that stretches from 0.25m to 0.255m when strained, what
is the percentage change in resistance? If the unstrained value of the
gage is 120ohm, what is the resistance value of gage after application
of strain?
• Gage factor =
•4=
• ΔR = 9.6 ohm
• %change is 8%
• A wheatstone ckt is used to measure the change in resistance of a
strain gage. R = 120 ohm. ΔR= 12 ohm. Excitation voltage of bdg is 5V.
What will be the output of bdg for
• - Full configuration
• - Half configuration
• -Quarter configuration.
Output voltage of the full bdg is Vo = Vin*ΔR/R
 FORCE/TORQUE SENSOR contd
• Performance specifications to ensure that the wrist motions
generated by the force/torque sensors do not affect the
position accuracy of the manipulator:
• High stiffness to ensure quick dampening of the disturbing
forces which permits accurate readings during short time
intervals.
• Compact design to ensure easy movement of the
manipulator.
• Need to be placed close to end-effector/tool.
• Linear relation between applied force/torque and strain
gauge readings.
• Made from single block of metal → No hysteresis.
 External Sensor - Touch
• Allows a robot or manipulator to interact with its environment – to
“touch and feel”, “see” and “locate”.
• Two classes of external sensors – Contact and non-contact
• Simple – LED-Photo-diode pair used to detect presence/absence of
object to be grasped
• Micro-switch to detect touch.

• Touch sensor
Tactile sensor
• A tactile sensor is a collection of touch sensors which, in
addition to determining contact, can also provide
additional information about the object.
• This additional information may be about the shape, size,
or type of material. In most cases, a number of touch
sensors are arranged in an array or matrix form, as shown
in Figure
• Touch sensor is made up of a plunger, an LED, and a light sensor. As
the tactile sensor closes and the plunger moves in or out, it blocks
the light from the LED projecting onto the light detector.
• The output of the light sensor is proportional to the displacement of
the plunger.
• These touch sensors are in fact displacement sensors. Similarly,
• other types of displacement sensors may be used for this purpose,
from microswitches to LVDTs, pressure sensors, magnetic sensors,
and so on.
• As the tactile sensor comes in contact with an object,
depending on the shape and size of the object, different
touch sensors react differently at a different order. This
information is then used by the controller to determine
the size and the shape of the object.

A tactile sensor can provide information about the

object.
Skin like tactile sensor

• The design revolves around a matrix of sensors embedded

between two polymer-type layers, separated by a mesh, as
shown schematically in Figure. As a force is applied to the
polymer, it is distributed between a few surrounding
sensors, where each one sends a signal proportional to the
force applied to it.
EXTERNAL SENSORS – SLIP

• Slip sensor to detect if grasped object is slipping.

• Free moving dimpled ball – Deflects a thin rod on the axis of a
conductive disk
• Evenly spaced electrical contacts placed under disk
• Object slips past the ball, moving rod and disk – Electrical
signal from contact to detect slip.
• Direction of slip determined from sequence of contacts
Slip can be considered as relative movement of one
surface over anther when in contact.
The relative movement can be translational or rotational
or combination of both.
EXTERNAL SENSORS – TACTILE

• “Skin” like membrane to “feel” the shape of the grasped

object
• Also used to measure force/torque required to grasp object
• Change in resistance/capacitance due to local deformation
from applied force

Robot hand with tactile

array
EXTERNAL SENSORS – TACTILE
(CONTD.)
• Send current in one set, measure current in other set
• Magnitude of current ∝ change in resistance due to
deformation
• Magnitude of current ∝ change in capacitance
• Fluid filled membrane
• Array of Hall-effect sensors
• MEMS – Silicon micro-machined with doped strain-gauge
• flexure

Artificial skin
INDUCTIVE – HALL EFFECT PROXIMITY
SENSOR
• When any object carrying the current I is placed in the
transverse magnetic field B, then an electric field E is
induced in the object in direction perpendicular to both I
and B, the phenomenon is known as Hall Effect
• Hall effect relates the voltage between two points in a conducting or
semiconducting material subjected to a strong magnetic field across the
material.
• When a semi-conductor magnet device is brought in close proximity of a
ferromagnetic material
• the magnetic field at the sensor weakens due to bending of the field lines through
the material,
• the Lorentz forces (it acts on a charged particle travelling through a magnetic field)
are reduced, and
• the voltage across the semiconductor is reduced.
• The drop in the voltage is used to sense the proximity.
• Applications: Ignition timings in IC engines, tachometers and anti-lock
braking systems, and brushless DC electric motors.
 Actuators in Robots
• Actuators are the muscles of robots, joints, links are
skeleton of robot
• Actuators are required to move joints, provide power
and do work.
• Serial robot actuators must be of low weight –
Actuators of distal links (one farther from
the robot base in the chain of links.) need to be
moved by actuators near the base.
• Parallel robots – Often actuators are at the base.
• Actuators drive a joint through a transmission device
• Three commonly used types of actuators:
• Hydraulic
• Pneumatic
Characteristics of Actuating
Systems
• weight,
• power and power to weight ratio,
• operating pressure,
• operating voltage,
• temperatures,
• and others
Weight and Power

• For example, since in many robotic systems the actuators

are placed directly at the joints, and therefore, move with
them, the weight of the actuator acts as a load on the
preceding actuators and must be accelerated and
decelerated by them.
• A heavier actuator downstream requires more torque
upstream, resulting in larger power requirements and
heavier actuators.
• Consequently, it is very important to consider the weight
and placement of actuators.
 Power to weight ratio
• The power to weight ratio of electric systems is average. Stepper motors are
generally heavier than servomotors for the same power, and therefore,
have a lower power to weight ratio.
• Hydraulic systems have the highest power to weight ratio. The weight is
actually composed of two portions. One is the hydraulic actuator, and the
other is the hydraulic power unit. The system’s power unit consists of a
pump that generates the high pressure needed to operate the actuator, a
reservoir, filters, electric drive motors to drive the pump, cooling units,
valves, and so on.
• However, the power unit is normally stationary, somewhere away from the
robot itself. It does not move with the actuator. The power is brought to the
robot via an umbilical tether hose. Consequently, the actual power to
weight ratio of the actuator is very high for the moving parts. If the power
unit must also move with the robot (e.g., a hydraulic transportation robot),
the total power to weight ratio will be much less.
• Pneumatic actuators deliver the lowest power to weight ratio.
• The power the hydraulic system delivers is very high due
to high operating pressures. This may range from 50 psi
to 5000 psi.
• Pneumatic cylinders normally operate around 100 to 120
psi.
• The higher pressures in hydraulic systems create higher
power concentrations, but also require higher
maintenance; if a leak occurs, they can be more
dangerous.
• Electric motors that operate at a higher voltage have a
better power to weight ratio, too. For the same power
output, as the voltage to an electric motor increases the
required current will decrease, reducing the size of
required wires. The heat generated in the motor is a
second-order function of the current; therefore, as the
current decreases, the generated heat decreases and
efficiency is increased.
Use of Reduction Gears
• Hydraulic actuators can be directly attached to the links,
which simplify the design, reduce the weight, cost, and
rotating inertia of joints, reduce backlash, increase reliability
of the system due to simpler design and fewer parts, and
reduce noise.
• On the other hand, electric motors rotate at high speeds, up
to many thousands of revolutions per minute, and must be
used in conjunction with reduction gears to increase their
torque and decrease their speed, as no one would want a
robot arm to be rotating at such high speeds. This, of
course, increases the cost, number of parts, backlash,
inertia of the rotating body, and so on, but also increases
the resolution of the system, as it is possible to rotate the
link a very small angle.
• A set of reduction gears with a reduction ratio of N, a load with
inertia Il, is connected to a motor with inertia Im (including the
inertia of the reduction gears), as shown in Figure, the torque
and speed ratio between the motor and load is given by,
• The effective inertia of the load felt by the motor,

And
• +
• So the motor will only feel a fraction of the actual inertia of the load.
• Suppose reduction ratio = 10 is used in conjunction with joints, the
total inertia that motor will see is only 1/100 the actual inertia and
thus the motor can accelerate quickly.
 Hydraulic Actuators
• Early industrial robots were driven by hydraulic actuators.
• Pump supplies high-pressure fluid (typically oil) to a linear
cylinders, rotary vane actuator or a hydraulic motor at the
joint!
• Large force capabilities.
• Large power-weight ratio – The pump, electric motor driving
the pump, accumulator etc. stationary and not considered in
the weight calculation!
• Control is by means of on/off solenoid valves or servo-valves
controlled electronically.
• The entire system consisting of Electric motor, pump,
accumulator, cylinders etc. is bulky and often expensive –
Limited to ‘big’ robots.
Components of Hydraulic System
PNEUMATIC ACTUATORS FOR ROBOTS

• Similar to hydraulic actuators but working fluid is air.

• Similar to hydraulic actuators, air is supplied from a compressor to
cylinders and flow of air is controlled by solenoid or servo controlled
valves.
• Less force and power capabilities.
• Less expensive than hydraulic drives.
• Chosen where electric drives are discouraged or for safety or
environmental reasons such as in pharmaceutical and food packaging
industries.
• Closed-loop servo-controlled manipulators have been developed for
many applications.
Components of Pneumatic System
COMPARISON OF PNEUMATIC &
HYDRAULIC ACTUATORS
• Air used in pneumatic actuators is clean and safe.
• Oil in hydraulic actuator can be a health and fire hazard especially if
there is a leakage.
• Pneumatic actuators are typically light-weight, portable and faster.
• Air is compressible (oil is incompressible) and hence pneumatic
actuators are ‘harder’ to control.
• Hydraulic actuators have the largest force/power density compared
to any actuator.
• With compressors, accumulators and other components, the space
requirement is larger than electric actuators.
ACTUATORS FOR ROBOTS –
ELECTRIC MOTORS
• Electric or electromagnetic actuators are widely used in
robots.
• Readily available in wide variety of shape, sizes, power and
torque range.
• Very easily mounted and/or connected with transmission
elements such as gears, belts and timing chains.
• Amenable to modern day digital control.
• Main types of electric actuators:
• Stepper motors
• Permanent magnet DC servo-motor
• Brushless motors
Stepper Motors
• Used in ‘small’ robots with small payload and “low” speeds.
• A Stepper Motor or a step motor is a brushless, synchronous motor
which divides a full rotation into a number of steps.
• The Stepper Motors are manufactured with steps per revolution of
12, 24, 72, 144, 180, and 200, resulting in stepping angles of 30, 15, 5,
2.5, 2, and 1.8 degrees per step. The stepper motor can be controlled
with or without feedback.

Fig: An Image Of Commonly Used Brushless DC Stepper Motor

How a stepper motor works?
• Stepper motors work on the principle of electromagnetism.
• There is a soft iron or magnetic rotor shaft surrounded by the
electromagnetic stators.
• The rotor and stator have poles which may be teethed or not depending
upon the type of stepper.
• When the stators are energized the rotor moves to align itself along
with the stator (in case of a permanent magnet type stepper) or moves
to have a minimum gap with the stator (in case of a variable reluctance
stepper).
• This way the stators are energized in a sequence to rotate the stepper
motor.

Fig. 2: General Overview Of Internal Structure And Working Of Typical Stepper

Motor
Types of Stepper Motor
By construction the step motors come into three broad classes:
• 1. Permanent Magnet Stepper
• 2. Variable Reluctance Stepper
• 3. Hybrid Step Motor

Type1: Permanent Magnet Stepper :

• The rotor and stator poles of a permanent magnet stepper are not
teethed. Instead the rotor have alternative north and south poles
parallel to the axis of the rotor shaft.

Fig. 3: Crossectional Diagram Of Two

Phase Permanent Stepper Motor
• When a stator is energized, it develops electromagnetic poles. The
magnetic rotor aligns along the magnetic field of the stator. The other
stator is then energized in the sequence so that the rotor moves and
aligns itself to the new magnetic field. This way energizing the stators in
a fixed sequence rotates the stepper motor by fixed angles.

Fig. 4: Diagram Explaining Working Of Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor

 The resolution of a permanent magnet stepper can be
increased by increasing number of poles in the rotor or
increasing the number of phases.

Fig. 5: Figure Showing Ways To Increase Resolution Of Permanent Magnet

Stepper Motor
Type2: Variable reluctance stepper :
• The variable reluctance stepper has a toothed non-magnetic soft iron
rotor. When the stator coil is energized the rotor moves to have a
minimum gap between the stator and its teeth.

Fig. 6: Basic Diagram Of Two-Phase Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor

• The teeth of the rotor are designed so that when they are
aligned with one stator they get misaligned with the next
stator. Now when the next stator is energized, the rotor moves
to align its teeth with the next stator. This way energizing
stators in a fixed sequence completes the rotation of the step
motor.
•

Fig. 7: Diagram Explaining Working Of Variable Reluctance Stepper

• The resolution of a variable reluctance stepper can be increased by
increasing the number of teeth in the rotor and by increasing the
number of phases.

Fig. 8: Figure Showing Ways To Increase Resolution Of Variable Reluctance

Stepper Motor
• Type3: Hybrid stepper :
• A hybrid stepper is a combination of both permanent magnet and the
variable reluctance. It has a magnetic teethed rotor which better
guides magnetic flux to preferred location in the air gap.

Fig. 9: Construction Of Two phase Hybrid Motor

• The magnetic rotor has two cups. One for north poles and second for the
south poles. The rotor cups are designed so that that the north and
south poles arrange in alternative manner. Check out the insight of a
Hybrid Stepper Motor.

Fig. 10: Diagram Showing Internal Structure Of Magnetic Rotor In Hybrid

Motor
• The Hybrid motor rotates on same principle of energizing the stator
coils in a sequence.
•

Fig. 11: Diagram Explaining Working Of Hybrid Stepper Motor

 Types of Wiring
• Types of Winding and Lead-out
• The step motors are mostly two phase motors.
• These can be unipolar or bipolar.
• In unipolar step motor there are two winding per phase. The two winding to a pole
may have one lead common i.e. centre tapped. The unipolar motor so, have five, six
or eight leads. In the designs where the common of two poles are separate but
centre tapped, motor have six leads. If the centre taps of the two poles are internally
short, the motor has five leads. Eight lead unipolar facilitates both series and parallel
connection whereas five lead and six lead motors have series connection of stator
coils.
• The unipolar motor simplifies the operation because in operating them there is no
need to reverse the current in the driving circuit. These are also called bifilar motors.

Fig. 12: Wiring Diagram Of Unipolar Stepper Motor With Diffrent Leads
• In bipolar stepper there is single winding per pole. The direction of curren
need to be changed by the driving circuit so the driving circuit of the bipola
stepper becomes complex. These are also called unifilar motors.

Fig. 13: Wiring Diagram Of Bipolar Stepper Motor With Lead Outs
 Stepping Modes
• The stepping mode refers to the pattern of sequence in which
stator coils are energized.
• Four stepping modes
• Wave drive – Only one phase/winding is on/energized → Torque output
is smaller.
• Full step drive – Both phases are on at the same time → Rated
performance.
• Half step drive – Combine wave and full-step drive → Angular
movement half of first two.
• Micro-stepping – Current is varying continuously → Smaller than 1.8 or
0.9 degree step size, lower torque.
• Choice of a stepper motor based on:
• Load, friction and inertia – Higher load can cause slipping!
• Torque-speed curve and quantities such as holding torque, pull-in and
pull-out curve.
• Torque-speed characteristic determined by the drive – Bipolar chopper
drives for best performance.
• Maximum slew-rate: maximum operating frequency with no load
(related to maximum speed).
Stepper Motor specification

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Stepper motor characteristics

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 Selection Criteria and Specifications of
stepper motors
• Selection Criteria :
Available power (Dc or AC).
Operating condition.
Starting characteristics (torque and current).
Operating speed.
Forward reverse operation.
Acceleration characteristics (depending on load).
Efficiency at rated load.
Overload capability.
Electrical and thermal safety.
Life span and maintenance.
Mechanical aspects (Size, Weight, noise level, environment).
EMC and EMI.
Control complexity and cost.

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Difference between AC and DC
motors
• Current
• Frequency
• Brush/brushless –mechanical switching
• Heat dissipation -path
ELECTRIC ACTUATORS – DC/AC
SERVO-MOTORS
• Rotor is a permanent magnet and stator is a coil.
• Permanent magnets with rare earth materials (Samarium-Cobalt,
Neodymium) can provide large magnetic fields and hence high
torques.
• Commutation done using brushes or in brushless motor using Hall-
effect sensors and electronics.
• Widely available in large range of shape, sizes, power and torque
range and low cost.
• Easy to control with optical encoder/tacho-generators mounted in-
line with rotor.
• Brushless AC and DC servo-motors have low friction, low
maintenance, low cost and are robust.
MODEL OF A DC PERMANENT
MAGNET MOTOR
• Rotor is a permanent magnet.
• Stator – Armature coil with
resistance Ra and inductance La.
• Applied voltage Va, ia current in coil.
• Rotation speed of motor Mechanical
part.
• Torque developed Tm = Kt ia — Kt is
constant.
• Back-emf V = Kg — Kg is constant.
• Motor dynamics can be modeled as
first-order ODE
• Laia+Raia+Kg = Va
• Mechatronic model — Mechanical +
Electrical/Electronics
Servomotors

• It consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for

position feedback. It also requires a relatively
sophisticated controller, often a dedicated module
designed specifically for use with servomotors.
Robot End - Effectors
End Effector
• End effector is gripper or end-arm tooling attached to
the wrist of manipulator to accomplish the desired
task.
• End effector is any object attached to the robot flange
(“wrist”) that serves as a function.
• Any object attached to the robot flange (“wrist”) that
serves a function. This includes:
1. Robotic gripper
2. Robotic collision sensors
3. Robotic press tooling
4. Robotic point gun
5. Robotic tool changer
6. Robotic rotary joint
7. Compliance device
8. Robotic deburring tool
Types of end effector

• Gripper
---Mechanical gripper, Suction or vacuum cups, Magnetized gripper,
Hookes, Scoopes or ladles, Adhesive or electrostatic grippers.
---Part handling Grippers, Tool handling grippers, Specialised grippers
• Tool
--Machine tools, Measuring instruments, welding torches, Laser and
water jet cutters
Sample gripper designs
• Double gripper pivot action
• Pivot action gripper
• Vaccum cup
• Slide action gripper
 Part handling grippers Tool handling grippers
• Used to grasp and hold obj • Hold tools like welding gun or
that require to transport from spray painting gun to perform
one point to another. specific task.
(a) Machine loading & • May hold deburring tool
unloading
(b) Picking parts from a
Specialized grippers
conveyor and moving parts
etc. • Special like- remote center
compliance (RCC)
• To insert an external mating
component into an internal
member, inserting a plug into
hole
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=qFTUFHGGZIg
 Tools
(i)Machine tools like (ii)Measuring instruments
• Drills
• Cutting wheels
• Grinding Wheels
• Sanders

(iii)Welding Torches
(iv) Laser and Water Jet Cutters
Classification of end effectors

According to the types of grasping modality

• Mechanical fingers
• Special tools
• Universal Fingers
Acc to number of grippers mounted on the wrist
• Single Grippers mounted on wrist
• Multiple Grippers mounted on the wrist
1. According to the types of grasping
modality
Mechanical Fingers

Gripping by mechanical type fingers is less They are categorized acc to the number of
versatile and less dextrous than holding by fingers typically TWO,THREE, FIVE. Out of
universal fingers as the grippers with which two fingers are most popular.
mechanical fingers have fewer number of joints
and lesser flexibility. However, they economies
the device cost.
This is a two linkage gripper and it is actuated by a linear drive system-a Pneumatic
hydraulic piston that pulls or pushes the linkage causing rotation of the gripper
linkages to close on or open free an object
2. According to number of grippers mounted on the wris

• In this system design

Methods for each
Individual gripper are
Subject to those of
Single grippers.
-Single Gripper
- Multiple Gripper
 3. Acc to mode of gripping
• Internal Gripping

• External Gripping
 4.Acc to the number of DOF
• Mechanical grippers belongs to 1 DOF
• Few grippers found with more than 2 DOF

• Unilateral action devices

• Bilateral action devices
• Multilateral action devices
Unilateral action devices

• When Valve 1 and valve 2 are in “off” positions: Gripper is ported to

free air state when not holding anything
• When valve -1 is “ON” and valve 2 is “off”: Air pressure is applied to
cup – to release part i.e. neutralize residual magnetism.
• When valve – 1 is on/off and valve-1 is on positions: vaccume is
applied to the cup to pick the part.
Unilateral
To electrical activation valve – 1
Interface to tool
Operated by air pressure
mounting flange at
the end of robot’s
wrist

Electrical activation valve - 2

Suction cup Vaccum hole

Bilateral action devices

• Rack and pinions or mechanical linkages may be required to achieve the

required motions
• It may be necessary to include a material such as a piece of rubber on
both points of contact to increase the friction, otherwise the part may
fall out of the gripper.
• The bilateral devices are binary in nature i.e. either opened or closed.
Pneumatic actuator is commonly used.
Bilateral

(a) Rotational movement to produce symmetrical gripping action

(b) Parallel jaws both move to produce symmetrical gripping action
(c) Single jaws moves to produce an asymmetrical gripping action.
Multilateral
According to the power sources

• Pneumatic grippers
(a) Angular gripper
(b) Parallel gripper

• Hydraulic grippers
• Electric grippers
Pneumatic grippers

• Don’t have motors or gears

• Power of piston cylinder system use for gripping
• Used for small and light package
• Used where space is the issue, and low cost
• Jaws can be actuated directly by the piston
Angular and parallel grippers

• Difference between the two is how there jaws move.

• Angular jaws of gripper swing open and closed on pivot
• Parallel jaws of gripper slide open and closed in tracks
• There can be two or three jaws in either style.
 Angular grippers Parallel grippers
• Less costly • More costly
• Save time when picking parts off • Slow in processing
a conveyor
• Cannot handle wide range of part • Can handle large sized parts
size
• Don’t resist side loads as well.
• Can resist
grippers
• Provide better gripping power
• More costly
• Less accurate than pneumatic and electrical grippers
• They are messy and much more costly to maintain
• Not suitable for clean room applications
rippers
• Use for high speed requirement
• Gives light and moderate grip
• Don’t create mess and don’t put any dirt
• Better control
• It size is big
• Provide less force than pneumatic
 Mechanical Grippers
• Use mechanical fingers actuated by mechanism to grasp an object.
• It can have interchangeable fingers but two fingers are enough to grip workpiece
-- Mechanical grippers with two fingers
-- Mechanical grippers with Three fingers
Mechanical grippers with two fingers
• Most popular gripper in industries
• Can be designed for limited shapes of object,
especially for cylindrical work piece.
• If actuators that produce linear movement are used,
like pneumatic piston cylinders the device contains a
pair of slider-crank mechanisms.
(a) Pivoting or swinging gripper mechanism
(b) Translational gripper mechanisms
Pivoting or swinging gripper mechanism
• Using slider crank mechanism
• Using swing block mechanism
• Using rotary actuator
• Spring helps holding objects of different sizes
 Translational gripper mechanisms

• Using screw
• Using cylinder piston
• Using piston bar linkages
• Using Rotary actuators
Mechanical grippers with Three
fingers
• Versatility increased by increasing number of fingers
• Reason of adding one more finger is to:
Increase the capability of grasping the objects in
Three spots, enable tight grip for spherical objects
• Use ball screw mechanism
Vacuum gripper
• It is difficult to grasp large flat objects.
• Vacuum gripper helps in it.
• Also called “suction grippers”, they use a vacuum pump to
generate vacuum between a suction cup and the gripping plane.
• Suction cups are made of rubber like material (silicon or
neoprene).
• Acc. To the design and size of object suction cups get designed.
• They are use upto 200 degree celcius.
• Number of gripper determine the size and weight of object to
be grasped.
• For handling soft materials cups made of harder material are
used.
• Use to grasp- metal plates, pans of glass, or large light weight
boxes.
Magnetic gripper
• Simple method to grasp ferrous materials
• Principle used is same as the vacuum except that cups are replaced by
magnetic grippers.
• Easy to control but needs electric power.
• Permanent magnets has some disadvantage while releasing the object.
• It is small in size and has enormous holding power
• Light weight design reduces wear on automatic equipment
• Formula
Magnetic gripper

Advantages Disadvantages
• They can handle metal parts • Residual magnetism remaining
with holes. in the workpiece may cause
• Only one surface is require for problems.
gripping • While picking up a sheet from
• Pickup times are faster the stock, it is possible that
more than a single sheet is lifted
• Various in part size can be
tolerated.
Adhesive Grippers
• Adhesive substance can be used for grasping action.
• Item to be handled must be on one side only.
• Reliability of an adhesive is dimished with each successive operation
cycle as the adhesive substance loses its tackiness with repeated use.
• So to overcome from this problem?
Design of Gripper

• Requirement for the gripper design

• Tips of Designing a gripper
• Force analysis of grippers mechanism
Requirement for the gripper design
• Design should satisfy following requirements

- To match the abilities of the arm and controller

- To grasp and hold the object securely
- To complete task
Tips for Designing a gripper
- Gripper with passive finger
- Gripper with active feedback
Gripper with passive finger
• Choose acc to the task to be performed and the geometry and
characteristics of parts to be grasped.
• Consider the local environments, working space, conveyor
positions etc.
• Determine the no. of joint links and there config. By part
geometry and task movements
• Decide the material of construction based on type of duty,
corrosion resistance or heat geometry and task movements.
• Decide material of construction based type of duty, heat etc.
• Select proper actuators--- hydraulic for high forces, electric
motors for best control
• Pneumatic for less cost and ease etc.
Gripper with active feedback

• Use sensor based robots to handle heavy parts.

• Use active wrist with passive fingers to handle forces greater than 1
to 2-5 kg
Force Analysis of gripper mechanism

• Primary aim of the gripper mechanism is to convert input power into

required motion and force to grasp and retain an object.
1. The gripper fingers may enclose the object partly, thereby constraining its
motion. This can be accomplished by designing the contacting surfaces.
2. To hole the object between fingers and the object by friction. This
approach demands that the fingers must apply a force that must be
adequate to retain the object against gravity, accelaration and any other
force that might arise during holding operation.
• Below fig. shows a gripper mechanism consisting of fingers, linkages
frame and a pneumatic cylinder.
Remote center compliance devices
(RCC)
Position Sensors

• Potentiometers
• LVDT
• Hall-effect
• Encoders- Incremental Encoder
-Absolute encoder
 Vision Sensors

Vision Sensor: e.g., to pick bins,

perform inspection, etc.

Part-Picking: Robot can handle In-Sight Vision Sensors

work pieces that are randomly piled
by using 3-D vision sensor. Since
alignment operation, a special parts
feeder, and an alignment pallete are
not required, an automatic system
can be constructed at low cost.
 Force Sensors
Force Sensor: e.g., parts
fitting and insertion,
force feedback in robotic
surgery
Parts fitting and insertion:
Robots can do precise fitting and
insertion of machine parts by using
force sensor. A robot can insert parts
that have the phases after matching
their phases in addition to simply
inserting them. It can automate high-
skill jobs.
 Proximity Sensors

Example
Infrared Ranging Sensor

KOALA ROBOT
•6 ultrasonic sonar transducers to explore wide, open areas
•Obstacle detection over a wide range from 15cm to 3m
•16 built-in infrared proximity sensors (range 5-20cm)
•Infrared sensors act as a “virtual bumper” and allow
for negotiating tight spaces
 Tilt Sensors

Tilt sensors: e.g., to balance a robot

Example

Tilt Sensor
Planar Bipedal Robot
 Actuators/Muscles: I

• Common robotic actuators utilize combinations

of different electro-mechanical devices
– Synchronous motor
– Stepper motor
– AC servo motor
– Brushless DC servo motor
– Brushed DC servo motor

http://www.ab.com/motion/servo/fseries.html
 Actuators/Muscles: II

Pneumatic Cylinder

Hydraulic Motor Stepper Motor

DC Motor

Pneumatic Motor Muscle Wire Servo Motor

 Controller
• Provide necessary intelligence to control the
manipulator/mobile robot
• Process the sensory information and compute the control
commands for the actuators to carry out specified tasks
Storage Hardware
Storage devices: e.g., memory to store the control program and
the state of the robot system obtained from the sensors

Computation Hardware
Computational engine that computes the control commands
Interface
Hardware
Interface units: Hardware to interface digital controller
with the external world (sensors and actuators) e.g ADC, OP-
Amp
 Robotic Vision : Please refer the
Vision System pdf
Vision Sensors
• Most powerful and complex form of sensing, analogous to
human eyes.
• Comprising of one or more video cameras with integrated signal
processing and imaging electronics.
• Includes interfaces for programming and data output, and a
variety of measurement and inspection functions.
• Also referred to as machine or computer vision.
• Computations required are very large compared to any other
form of sensing.
• Computer vision can be sub-divided into six main areas: 1)
Sensing, 2) Pre-processing, 3) Segmentation, 4) Description, 5)
Recognition and 6) Interpretation.
Components of Vision System
 VISION SENSORS
• Three levels of processing.
• Low level vision
• Primitive in nature, requires no intelligence on the part of
the vision functions.
• Sensing and pre-processing can be considered as low level
vision functions.
• Medium level vision
• Processes that extract, characterize and label components
in an image resulting from a low level vision.
• Segmentation (edge,blob), description and recognition of
the individual objects refer to the medium level function.
• High level vision: Processes that attempt to emulate
cognition.
VISION SENSORS
• Smaller number of robotic applications – Primarily due to
computational complexity and low speed.
• Vision system can
• Determine distances of objects.
• Determine geometrical shape and size of objects.
• Determine optical (color, brightness) properties of objects in an
environment.
• Can be used for navigation (map making), obstacle avoidance,
Cartesian position and velocity feedback, locating parts, and many
other uses.
• Can learn about environment.
• Acquire knowledge and intelligence.
• Vision systems extensively used in autonomous navigation in
mobile robots (Mars rovers).
• Use of vision systems increasing rapidly as technology
improves!
 Robotics @ MPCRL:
http://mechatronics.poly.edu
Remote Robot Arm
Manipulation
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for Disaster Recovery
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for Disaster Recovery
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