FINAL YEAR PROJECT REPORT

Robotic Arm

Project Advisor
Engr Khan M. Nazir

Submitted by

Imran Iqbal - 070920049

Hafiz Furkanul Haque - 081120082
Muhammad Raheel Iqbal Butt - 081120102

Department of Electrical Engineering

School of Science and Technology
University of Management and Technology 
 Robotic Arm

Project Report submitted to the

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Management and

Technology

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Science
In
Electrical Engineering

Imran Iqbal - 070920049

Hafiz Furkanul Haque - 081120082
Muhammad Raheel Iqbal Butt - 081120102
 Abstract
Chapter 1 is an overview of robotics, its brief history, in which we come to know that how it
were initialized and who are the pioneers of robotics. Further, on which basis they are
classified and at the end of this chapter there are some implemented and future applications
of robotics all around the world.Literature review is in Chapter 2 and it is about the
mechanics and motions of robotics further, there are brief theories on positioning, orientation,
degree of freedom and geometry involved in robotics.At the end of this chapter servo motors
are discussed in greater depth.Research methodologies are placed in chapter 3, where design
and material selection is the main concern of mechanical design of robotic arm and what sort
of hardware selection is carried out which suites best the servo drive. In chapter 4 these
mechanical and electronic hardware selections are implemented along with the best suitable
power supply unit and microcontroller. At the last but not the least chapter 5 is
thesummarized version of; our achievements, limitations facing in project, robotics in future,
cost analysis and conclusion. We mention point to point references for every student who
want to ripe this fruit and enhance the curiosity.

Dedication

To our parents,

They have added real joy to our complex lives.

 
 

Acknowledgements

First of all we are very thankful to ALMIGHTY ALLAH who has given us enough
courage to complete this project.

We would like to express our gratitude to the University of Management and

technology for letting us to be a part of it for 4 years and the facility and their keen support
provided for the project.

Finally we would like to thank our project advisor Engr. Col. Khan M. Nazir, as he
helped us in making this model of Robotic claw. He guided us in a very informative and
descriptive way by assigning us different task step by step. We are very thankful to him for
his support and guidance.
Table of contents

Chapter 1:-

INTRODUCTION
¾ 1.1 PREAMBLE
¾ 1.2 HISTORY OF ROBOTICS
¾ 1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ROBOTS
o 1.3.1 AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOTS
o 1.3.2 MANIPULATOR ROBOTS
¾ 1.4 APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTICS
o 1.4.1 MEDICINE
o 1.4.2 MILITARY
o 1.4.3 EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
o 1.4.4 ENTERTAINMENT
o 1.4.5 INDUSTRY

Chapter 2:-

LITERATURE REVIEW

¾ 2.1 MECHANICS AND MOTION OF ROBOTS

o 2.1.1 ROBOTIC ARM
o 2.1.2 POSITIONING, ORIENTING AND DEGREES OF FREEDOM
o 2.1.3 ARM GEOMETRIES
¾ 2.2 MOTORS
o 2.2.1 SERVO MOTORS
Chapter 3:-

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

¾ 3.1 DESIGN SELECTION OF THE ROBOTIC ARM

o 3.1.1 MATERIAL SELECTION
¾ 3.2 ELECTRONIC HARDWARE SELECTION
o 3.2.1 PIC MICROCONTROLLER
o 3.2.2 MOTORS
¾ 3.3 SERVO MOTOR DRIVER SUPPLY

Chapter 4:-

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ROBOTIC ARM

¾ 4.1 MECHANICAL DESIGN AND FABRICATION

¾ 4.2 ELECTRONIC HARDWARE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
o 4.2.1 THE MOTOR CONTROLLER
o 4.2.2 THE POWER SUPPLY UNIT

Chapter 5:-

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

¾ 5.1 ACHIEVEMENTS
o 5.1.1 Task performed by each member
¾ 5.2 LIMITATIONS/ DIFFICULTIES FACED BY EACH MEMBER
o 5.2.1 Insufficient mechanical knowledge
o 5.2.2 Unavailability of some integrated circuits
o 5.2.3 Irregular power supply
o 5.2.4 Inadequate Machines for Fabrication
 o 5.2.5 Lack of well equipped electronics laboratory
¾ 5.3 ROBOTICS IN THE FUTURE 
¾ 5.4 COST ANALYSIS
¾ 5.5 CONCLUSION

Chapter 6:-

REFERENCES 

Chapter 1

¾ Introduction

1.1 PREAMBLE
In the modern world, robotics has become popular, useful, and has achieved great successes
in several fields of humanity. Robotics has become very useful in medicine, education,
military, research and mostly, in the world of manufacturing. It is a term that has since been
used to refer to a machine that performs work to assist people or work that humans find
difficult or undesirable. Robots, which could be destructive or non-destructive, perform tasks
that would have been very tedious for human beings to perform. They are capable of
performing repetitive tasks more quickly, cheaply, and accurately than humans. Robotics
involves the integration of many different disciplines, among them kinematics, signal
analysis, information theory, artificial intelligence, and probability theory. These disciplines
when applied suitably, lead to the design of a very successful robot.

1.2 HISTORY OF ROBOTICS

The advent of robotics started in the year 350 B.C. when a Greek mathematician Archytas of
Tarentum built a mechanical bird, which was called “the pigeon”. This mechanical bird was
powered using steam. With further advancements, Leonardo Da Vinci in the year, 1495
designed a mechanical device that looked like an armored knight. The knight was designed to
move as if there was a real person inside. In 1898, Nikola Tesla designed the first remote-
controlled robot in Madison Square Garden. The robot designed was modeled after a boat.

The first industrial robots were Unimates developed by George Devol and Joe Engelberger in
the late 50’s and early 60’s. The first patents were by Devol but Engelberger formed
Unimation which was the first market robots. Therefore, Engelberger has been called the
“father of robotics”. For a while, the economic viability of these robots proved disastrous
and thing slowed down for robotics. However, by mid-80’s, the industry recovered and
robotics was back on track.

George DevolJr, in 1954 developed the multi-jointed artificial arm, which lead to the modern
robots. However, mechanical engineer Victor Scheinman, developed the truly flexible arm
know as the Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm (PUMA).
In 1950, Isaac Asimov came up with laws for robots and these were:

• A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to
come to harm.
• A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders
would conflict with the first law.
• A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the first or second law (Robotics Introduction. 2001).

Mobile Robotics moved into its own in 1983 when Odetics introduced a six-legged vehicle
that was capable of climbing over objects. This robot could lift over 5.6 times its own weight
parked and 2.3 times it weight moving. There were very significant changes in robotics until
the year 2003 when NASA launched two robots MER-A “Spirit” and MER-B “Opportunity”
rovers which were destined for Mars. Up till date, Roboticists have kept researching on how
to make robots very interactive with man in order to be able to communicate efficiently in the
social community.
1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ROBOTS

There are various types of robots, which are used now in the modern world each having one
or several tasks that it performs depending on the intelligence applied to it. However, robots
can be classified broadly into two types namely:

• Autonomous Mobile Robots

• Manipulator Robots

1.3.1 AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOTS

These are mobile robots provided with the mechanisms to perform certain tasks such as
locomotion, sensing, localization, and motion planning. Autonomous mobile robots are
capable of adapting to their environment. The intelligence provided to them enables them to
be able to sense conditions around their environment and respond correctly to the situations.

Examples of Autonomous mobile robots include the autonomous guided vehicle robots which
independent of external human actions deliver parts between various assembly stations by
following special electrical guide wires using a custom sensor, the HELPMATE service robot
which transports food and medication throughout hospitals by tracking the position of ceiling
lights, which are manually specified to the robot beforehand. Also, in the military, some
robots are designed to detect bombs and they are capable of defusing the bombs. These robots
are all autonomous in the task they perform because they have been provided with the
intelligence to detect and adapt to the environment in which they are supposed to perform
their tasks.

1.3.2 MANIPULATOR ROBOTS

These are robots that perform particular tasks. They are usually in the form of robot arms and
are normally stationary. In most cases, they are bolted at the shoulder to a specific position in
the assembly line, and the robot arm can move with great speed and accuracy to perform
repetitive tasks such as spot welding and painting. Manipulator robots are very much unlike
the autonomous mobile robots whereby the intelligence provided to them does not make them
adapt to the environment in which they are. In most cases, most manipulator robots are
capable of handling many end-effectors in order to increase the versatility of their use. These
 various end-effectors can be used for several purposes such as welding, painting, screwing
and assembling. Although manipulator robots can be very versatile, they suffer from a
fundamental disadvantage, which is lack of mobility. A fixed manipulator robot has a limited
range of motion that depends on where it is bolted down, in contrast to a mobile robot that is
capable of moving about.

1.4 APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTICS

Robotics is becoming almost very popular in today’s world and is now applied in several
spheres of the human life. Robotics is applied in the following areas of life.

1.4.1 MEDICINE

In the medical field, some robots are used for performing tasks, which are dangerous and
unpleasant to humans. Some of these hazardous jobs are handling materials such as blood or
urine samples. In addition, some robots are used to transport materials around the hospital.
Their main sensor for localization is a camera looking at the ceiling. The camera detects the
lamps on the ceiling as landmarks.

1.4.2 MILITARY

Robots in the military are used for detecting enemy equipment, detection and defusing of
bombs. In rescue operations, robots are also used for searching buildings for fugitives and
deep-water search. Also, during military attacks, guided missiles are used to blast specific
locations on the earth.

1.4.3 EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

Some robots are designed for demonstration purposes, which are used for educating the
public. For example, the Howard County Sheriff's department of Kokomo Indiana, in 1999
 used a motor robot with a cop in it to attract a lot of attention to promote a seat belt program
at a fair and they had the robot with the cop with his seat belt on.In space research and the
Mars research, robots are usually sent out with the space shuttle for them to obtain samples
and bring them back to earth. These robots are usually controlled from a control room in
earth.

1.4.4 ENTERTAINMENT

Some robots are used for entertainment purposes. These robots are designed like puppets and
could make some funny moves which amuse people. Olden day robots were mainly like this.
They were being used to entertain royalties.

1.4.5 INDUSTRY

In the industry, robots are used to perform precise and heavy tasks which are very difficult
for humans to perform. Autonomous mobile robots could be used for carry heavy
components from one place to another using custom sensor that help them get their precise
positions. Manipulator robots are used to perform certain tasks such as painting, welding,
screwing and other activities that would have been difficult to handle using the human hand.
Also, manipulator robots are used in assembly lines where each robot takes care of a
particular stage of the assembly process.