REALIZATION OF SCARA – ROBOT

ARM
REALIZATION OF SCARA – ROBOT
ARM
AIM OF THE PROJECT
Aim of the project – to design, develop and realize simple
robotic arm with functionality to pick and place objects using
off the shelf elements
Prerequisites:
• Relatively cheap mechanical elements or plastic
elements produced on the 3D printer
• Standard off the shelf electronic components
• Cheap micro controller
Stage two
• introduction of Computer Vision (CV) for basic pick and
place intelligence
REALIZATION OF SCARA – ROBOT
ARM
PROJECT DATA
Project was registered as non-commercial project and
supported by the Faculty of mechanical engineering from
Skopje

Project team:
Boban Kusigerski - mechanical design
Todor Kusigerski - Team leader and electronics
Goran Kusigerski – software developer

Gratitude to the employees of “TABOS” - Kumanovo for

helping with the realization of the mechanical construction
 SCARA – CONCEPT

Selective
Compliance
Assembly
Robot
Arm

2 axes of rotation (shoulder and elbow) – Step motors

1 axis of translation (Z-axis) – DC motor
KINEMATICS
IK - How to calculate the angles of rotation
of two axes if you have the x and y
coordinates

Inverse kinematic equations:

E = arccos ((x2 + y2 -L12 - L22)/2L1*L2)
Q= arctan (L2 * sin E/(L1+L2*cos E))
S = arctan(y/x) – Q

where:
x, y - coordinates
L1 and L2 - length of the Axes
COORDINATE SYSTEM OF THE
ROBOT ARM
SCARA – ROBOTIC ARM
ELEMENTS OF THE SYSTEM

• Mechanical construction
• Power supply
• Sensors
• Actuators
• Program controlling system
• Camera and Computer Vision (CV)
 MECHANICS - STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS
• LINEAR RAILS WITH BALL BEARINGS FOR VERTICAL AXIS
MOVEMENT
• 3D PRINTED COMPONENTS FROM POLYLACTIC ACID (PLA):
FRAMES, BEARING HOLDERS, LIMIT SWITCH HOLDERS,
AXLE HOLDER, ENCODER HOLDERS, TEMPLATE FOR
PRECISE RAIL POSITIONING
• ALUMINIUM PROFILES 20X20X300 mm FOR STRUCTURAL
SUPPORT OF THE SHOULDER AND ELBOW
• ALUMINIUM PLATFORM FOR HOLDING THE ARM
STRUCTURE
 MECHANICS - TRANSMISSION
ELEMENTS
• THREADEDROD WITH 8 MM PITCH FOR Z-AXIS MOVEMENT
ALONG WITH BLOCK BEARINGS
• 3D PRINTED BELT AND PULLEY SYSTEM FOR TRANSMISSION
RATIO 1:5 IN ORDER TO INCREASE THE TORQUE AND THE
PRECISION OF THE DC AND STEP MOTORS
• SHAFT COUPLINGS FOR ENCODERS OF THE Z-AXIS AND THE
ELBOW
 MECHANICS - PNEUMATIC CONTROL

• AIR COMPRESSOR UP TO 6 BARS

• 5/2 SOLENOID VALVE FOR ACTIVATION OF THE VACUUM
GENERATOR
• VACUUM GENERATOR
• SUCTION CUP FOR PICKING OBJECTS UP
 SCARA – MECHANICAL
PARAMETERS
Shoulder:
• Axis length 32.7 cm
• Controlled by step motor with 2.3 Nm 200 steps/rev driven by step driver
with 8 micro steps
• Reduction ratio using belt and pulley 1:5, effectively increasing torque up
to 11.5 Nm and increasing positioning precision
• Rotation angle approx. 180 degrees
Elbow:
• Axis length 32.7 cm
• Controlled by step motor with 0.9 Nm 200 steps/rev driven by step driver
with 8 micro steps
• Reduction ratio using belt and pulley 1:5, effectively increasing torque up to
4.5 Nm and increasing positioning precision
• Rotation angle more than 180 degrees
 SCARA – MECHANICAL
PARAMETERS
Z-axis:
• Axis length 400 mm. Max movement 300mm
• Controlled by DC motor with 0.94 Nm driven by DC driver
by using PWM via driver in H bridge
• Reduction ratio using belt and pulley 1:5, effectively
increasing torque up to 4.7 Nm and positioning precision

Maximum lifting capacity 250 gr.

Precision and repeatability
• less than 2 mm in teach mode
• less than 4 mm in inverse kinematics mode due to mechanical
imperfections
 SCARA – POWER SUPPLY

Several different switching regulators:

• Main PS for driving the step motors (shoulder and elbow),
pneumatic valve and all other switching regulators 230 V
AC to 24 V DC 10 А
• Step down switching 24 V DC to 18 V DC for Z axis DC
motor
• Step down switching 24 V DC to 12 V DC for Arduino and
limit switches
• Internal 5V DC from Arduino for encoders
 SCARA – CONTROL – 1.
LEVEL
Control of the system is realized on two levels:

1. Level – realized on Arduino Mega microcontroller with following tasks:

• Limit switch monitoring (2 x 2 limit switches per shoulder and elbow) and 2
optical limit switches for Z axis
• Reading encoders for the position of Z axis and elbow (interrupt based)
• Control of step motors (shoulder and elbow) by using step drivers
• Control of Z axis motor (velocity and direction) by using PWM via driver in H
bridge
• Control of pneumatic valve for activating vacuum used for picking up the
objects
• Communication with the upper control level (GUI)
 SCARA – CONTROL – 2. LEVEL
2nd Level – realized on personal computer as a SCADA application
(C#) with following tasks:
• Communication (via USB) with lower control level (Arduino
Mega), user defined protocol
• Interface for manually defined coordinates for robotic arm
movement – jog command
• Sequence control (Teach)
• Calculation of inverse kinematics – number of impulses for
movement of the step motors based on previously given
coordinates (Pick n Place)
SHOULDER MANUAL JOG
 IMPLEMENTING COMPUTER
VISION
• Implementation of Computer Vision (CV) for identification of objects
and calculation of their coordinates necessary for pick and place actions
• Snapshots generated with Dahua IP camera (1920x1080)
• Developed in separate windows application (C#) which uses EMGU CV
for detecting objects
• Using filters to make the snapshot grey, detecting objects with defined
radius and tint, showing center coordinates of detected objects
• Translating detected objects coordinates to SCARA recognized
coordinates
 SCARA – FUTURE
CHALLENGES
• Finishing the implementation of Computer Vision
• Merging SCARA GUI and CV application
• Improving the mechanical realization (more robust)
• Introduction of laser distance measurement (Z axis) for
precise object position
• Introduction of Smooth trajectory generation – reduction of
Jerks and Acceleration peaks
• Increase the movement speed
• Find the commercial applications for the SCARA arm
QUESTIONS ?
contact:
goran.kusigerski@t.mk
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