ROBOTIC ARM (MANIPULATOR)

What is a Robot? There is no one definition of robot that satisfies everyone and many people have their own. A robot is a mechanical or virtual artificial agent, usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by a computer program or electronic circuitry. It can as well be defined as any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort, though it may not resemble human beings in appearance or perform functions in a human-like manner.

Robotic Arm Robots which must work in the real world require some way to manipulate objects; pick up, modify, destroy, or otherwise have an effect. Thus the "hands" of a robot are often referred to as end effectors while the "arm" is referred to as a manipulator.

Components of a Robotic Arm A robot is not just one thing, and the study of robotics does not cover just one area of knowledge. A robotic arm can be considered in four parts; its frame, mechanics, electronics, and control logic. The electronics make up its brain and nerves, and the control systems and programming give it life.

Basic Robotic Arm Concepts

1. Degrees of Freedom: Robot arms are described by their degrees of freedom. This number typically refers to the number of single-axis rotational joints in the arm, where a higher number indicates an increased flexibility in positioning a tool.

2. Motion of a Robot: The study of motion can be divided into kinematics and dynamics. Direct kinematics refers to the calculation

of end effector position, orientation, velocity, and acceleration when the corresponding joint values are known. Inverse kinematics refers to the opposite case in which required joint values are calculated for given end effector values, as done in path planning. 3. Actuators: Actuators are like the "muscles" of a robot, the parts which convert stored energy into movement. By far the most popular actuators are electric motors that spin a wheel or gear.

4. Microcontroller: A robot microcontroller is basically the brain of the robot. It is used to collect the information from various input devices such as sensors, switches and others. Then it executes a program and in accordance with it controls the output devices such as motors, lights and others. It is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. PIC microcontrollers are commonly used for various robotic applications.