Mechanical Design and Path Planning of A Robotic Arm for GIS Pipeline Inspection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Liu ◽  
Wensheng Li ◽  
Xiangyu Sun ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Yuansheng Fang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Path Planning ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Pipeline Inspection

A Robotic Arm for Electric Scooters

2011 ◽  
pp. 94-109
Author(s):  
Samuel N. Cubero
Keyword(s):  
Frail Elderly ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Robot Arm ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Electric Scooter ◽  
Manipulator Arm ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Three Degree Of Freedom

This chapter describes the mechanical design, manufacture and performance of a three-degree-of-freedom manipulator arm and gripper that can be attached to a mobile vehicle or electric scooter. Known by the acronym “ESRA”, or “Electric Scooter Robot Arm”, this device can be remotely or automatically controlled to pick up and retrieve heavy objects, such as books or grocery products, from high shelves or difficult-to-reach locations. Such tasks are often considered to be arduous or even impossible for the frail elderly and people with disabilities. This chapter describes one example of how the combination of mechanical and electronic engineering technology can be used to perform physically strenuous tasks and enable the frail elderly and people with disabilities to enjoy a greater degree of self-sufficiency, independence and physical productivity. It includes the design process for robotic arm manipulators and actuators. It also provides a brief overview of existing “state of the art” robotic and machine vision technologies, and how these can be used to perform many everyday domestic or household chores.

scholarly journals Design and Construction of a Cost-Effective Didactic Robotic Arm for Playing Chess, Using an Artificial Vision System

Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian del Toro ◽  
Carlos Robles-Algarín ◽  
Omar Rodríguez-Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
Visual Servoing ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Vision System ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Artificial Vision ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Chess Game ◽  
Human Opponent ◽  
The University ◽  
Design And Construction

This paper presents the design and construction of a robotic arm that plays chess against a human opponent, based on an artificial vision system. The mechanical design was an adaptation of the robotic arm proposed by the rapid prototyping laboratory FabLab RUC (Fabrication Laboratory of the University of Roskilde). Using the software Solidworks, a gripper with 4 joints was designed. An artificial vision system was developed for detecting the corners of the squares on a chessboard and performing image segmentation. Then, an image recognition model was trained using convolutional neural networks to detect the movements of pieces on the board. An image-based visual servoing system was designed using the Kanade–Lucas–Tomasi method, in order to locate the manipulator. Additionally, an Arduino development board was programmed to control and receive information from the robotic arm using Gcode commands. Results show that with the Stockfish chess game engine, the system is able to make game decisions and manipulate the pieces on the board. In this way, it was possible to implement a didactic robotic arm as a relevant application in data processing and decision-making for programmable automatons.

scholarly journals Design and Validation of an Articulated Sensor Carrier to Improve the Automatic Pipeline Inspection

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Ramirez-Martinez ◽  
Noé Rodríguez-Olivares ◽  
Sergio Torres-Torres ◽  
Guillermo Ronquillo-Lomelí ◽  
Jorge Soto-Cajiga
Keyword(s):  
Mean Squared Error ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Pipeline System ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Pipeline Inspection ◽  
Processing Level ◽  
Straight Beam ◽  
Automatic Pipeline

Pipeline inspection gauges (PIGs) carry out automatic pipeline inspection with nondestructive testing (NDT) technologies like ultrasound, magnetic flux leakage, and eddy current. The ultrasonic straight beam allows technicians to determine the wall thickness of the pipeline through the time of flight diffraction (TOFD), providing the pipeline reconstruction and allowing the detection of several defects like dents or corrosion. If the pipeline is of a long distance, then the inspection process is automatic, and the fluid pressure pushes the PIG through the pipeline system. In this case, the PIG velocity and its axial alignment with the pipeline cannot be controlled. The PIG geometry, the pipeline deformations, and the girth welds cause a continuous chattering when the PIG is running, removing the transducers perpendicularity with the inspection points, which means that some echoes cannot be received. To reduce this problem, we propose a novel method to design a sensor carrier that takes into account the angularity and distance effects to acquire the straight beam echoes. The main advantage of our sensor carrier is that it can be used in concave and convex pipeline sections through geometric adjustments, which ensure that it is in contact with the inner pipe wall. Our improvement of the method is the characterization of the misalignment between the internal wall of the pipeline and the transducer. Later, we analyzed the conditions of the automatic pipeline inspection, the existing recommendations in state-of-the-art technology, and the different mechanical scenarios that may occur. For the mechanical design, we developed all the equations and rules. At the signal processing level, we set a fixed gain in the filtering step to obtain the echoes in a defined distance range without saturating the acquisition channels. For the validation, we compared through the mean squared error (MSE) our sensor carrier in a straight pipe section and a pipe elbow of steel versus other sensor carrier configurations. Finally, we present the design parameters for the development of the sensor carrier for different pipeline diameters.

Design of Robotic Arm Using Delay Based Operation of DC Geared Motors With a Microcontroller

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilshad A. Sulaiman ◽  
Akash B. Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Material Handling ◽  
Pulse Width Modulation ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Infrared Light ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Design And Technology ◽  
Stepper Motors

This paper provides the design of a simple robotic arm for pick and place operations as well as other material handling operations. The movements of the arm are anthropometric i.e. resembling the human arm with respect to degrees of freedom so as to provide a human touch in industrial and space operations. This system operates using controlled motion of DC geared motors along with a microcontroller based system (8051 or PIC based). Use of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) can be used to control the RPM of DC geared motors. This system has the advantage of being simple and low cost with a varied flexibility of operation. A collective array of sensors viz. voice sensor, infrared light sensors, proximity sensors etc. can be incorporated to form a feedback induced closed loop system. Whereas for tasks of picking and placing at a fixed location from another location the system can be operational at open-loop. The material for the robotic arm can be polypropylene or acrylic or aluminium to reduce weight without compromising on the strength and lifting capacity of the robotic arm, such that the torque of the DC geared motors (actuators) at each joint are sufficient to lift the arm along with the weight at the end effector. Clutch and gear shifting mechanism can be used to increase the degrees of freedom per actuator. The driving circuit mainly consists of the microcontroller and H-bridge drivers using an 8-bit port to control 4 DC geared motors per port simultaneously or one at a time using delay commands. DC geared motors are quite cheaper than stepper motors and RC Servos thus reducing the total cost of the system drastically. Plus being light weight, DC geared motors reduce the total weight of the system. This paper will also throw light on the programming aspects for the microcontroller (8051 or PIC based) along with the compatible flash programmers and HEX code generators. This project will further explain on the approach followed in the mechanical design of the robotic arm (motion, work volume etc.) as well as the possible future applications of the robotic arm. Also the design of the robotic arm on CAD tools like Solidworks will be discussed in brief along with the modeling and simulation of the various links of the arm as well as the whole assembly of the system. With increasing popularity of Automation, robotic arms are the present and future of all industrial operations. Finally the paper concludes on the further improvements in design and technology.

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