MODULE 1

Introduction & Control System and Components

Robot Anatomy
Robotic Drive System

 Capacity to move robot’s body, arm and wrist

 Determine speed of the arm movements,
strength of the robot & dynamic performance
 Type of applications that the robot can
accomplish
 Powered by three types of drive systems:
1. Hydraulic
2. Pneumatic
3. Electric
1. Hydraulic Drive
 Associated with large robot
 Provide greater speed & strength
 Add floor space
 Leakage of oil
 Provide either rotational or linear motions
 Applications such as:
• Spray coating robot
• Heavy part loading robot
• Material handling robot
• Translatory motions in cartesian robot
• Gripper mechanism
2. Pneumatic Drive
 Reserved for smaller robot
 Limited to “pick-and-place”
operations with fast cycles
 Drift under load as air is
compressible
 Provide either rotational or
linear motions
 Simple and low cost
components
 Used to open and close
gripper
3. Electric Drive

 Rotor, stator, brush and commutator assembly

 Rotor has got windings of armature and stator has got
magnets
 The brush and the commutator assembly switch the
current in armature windings
 The most commonly used are DC servomotors, AC
servomotors and stepper motors
Servomotor
CONTROL SYSTEM FUNDAMENTALS

Open Control system

Closed Loop Control System
 Open Loop Control System Block Diagram

Closed Loop Control System Block Diagram

Precession of Movement
A space on which a robot can move and
operate its wrist end is called as a work
volume. It is also referred as the work
envelope and work space. 
Model of Controllers
1.
2.
What is a PID Controller?

A PID controller is an instrument used in industrial

control applications to regulate temperature, flow,
pressure, speed and other process variables. PID
(proportional integral derivative) controllers use a
control loop feedback mechanism to control process
variables and are the most accurate and stable
controller.
Components used for robot actuation and feedback

In a robot, some of the devices are used as the components of a robot control system for
providing feedback and control actions in order to control the manipulator.

Such devices are:

Feedback devices:

Position Sensors
Velocity Sensors

Actuation devices:

Actuators
Power Transmission Systems
Position and Velocity Sensors:
Position sensors are the feedback devices used to find out the accurate movement of
joints for accomplishing the required direction and position of the end effector.

A robot requires velocity sensors for controlling the speed of the manipulator

movement.

Position sensors use several devices such as resolvers, potentiometers, and encoders
for sensing the position.

Velocity sensors include dc tachometer for providing appropriate speed.

Every single robot requires feedback devices for delivering accurate speed control.

Even the recently developed complicated control system also hardly relies on these
devices for gaining better performance of the robot manipulator in some tasks like
deceleration and acceleration.
Actuators and Power Transmission Systems:
A controller uses the actuators and power transmission systems for achieving
the control actions.

As a result, these devices help in generating power for moving the robot arm.

The actuators are used to provide power to the robot joints with the help of the

power transmission systems.

In some cases, the power transmission systems will not be required if the actuators
are attached with the robot joints itself.

Some of the devices that are used as the actuators are pneumatic,

hydraulic, and electric.

The power transmission systems make use of gears, screws, and pulleys for

performing this mechanism.
A robot has these essential characteristics:
Sensing First of all your robot would have to be able to sense its surroundings. It
would do this in ways that are not unsimilar to the way that you sense your
surroundings. Giving your robot sensors: light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure
sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing and sonar sensors (ears), and 
taste sensors (tongue) will give your robot awareness of its environment.

Movement A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. Whether rolling
on wheels, walking on legs or propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to
move. To count as a robot either the whole robot moves, like the Sojourner or just
parts of the robot moves, like the Canada Arm.

Energy A robot needs to be able to power itself. A robot might be solar powered,
electrically powered, battery powered. The way your robot gets its energy will depend
on what your robot needs to do.

Intelligence A robot needs some kind of "smarts." This is where programming enters
the pictures. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its 'smarts.' The robot
will have to have some way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.
Uses of sensors in Robotics
The sensors are one of the useful technologies that  play the vital role in the robotics
field

They are highly required in the robotics in Safety monitoring, Interlocking in work

cell control,

The quality control in work part inspection and data collection of the objects in the
robot work cell.

The sensors are used in the industrial robotics for monitoring the dangerous and
safety conditions in the robot cell layout.

They help in avoiding the physical injuries and other damages caused to the human
workers .

In the robot work cell, the series of activities of various equipments are controlled
by using the interlocks.

The sensors are used to verify the conclusion of the current work cycle before
progressing to the next cycle.
The quality control was performed with the manual inspection system.

Nowadays, The sensors are used in the inspection process to determine the quality
features of the work part automatically.

The sensors provide high accurate results but the sensors are only able to examine
the limited variety of work part features and faults .

The sensors are used in data collection of objects in the robot work cell to determine
the position or other related data about the fixtures, the work parts, the equipment,
the human workers and so on,.

Apart from sensing the position, It is implemented to find out the other information
like the work part’s color, the orientation, the size, the shape, etc.

The image quality is important in the applications which require excellent

robotic vision.

Algorithm based on the wavelet transform for fusing the images of different spectra
and different foci improves the image quality, The robots can collect more accurate
information from the resulting improved image .
The visual sensors help the robots to identify the surrounding and they take
appropriate action, Touch sensory signal is useful to identify the external tactile
signals for the accurate operations, Touch patterns enable the robots to interpret the
human emotions in interactive
applications.

The robots use touch signals to map the profile of the surface in hostile environment
such as the water pipe, The predetermined path was programmed into the robot,
with the integration of touch sensors, The robots first acquire the random data point
.
The accurate audio sensor requires low internal noise contribution, audio sensors
combine the acoustical arrays and the microphones to reduce the internal noise
level.

The automated robots require the guidance system to determine the path to

perform its task, the only way to achieve motion in such environment is to replace
the sensors with the chemical reactions .
TACTILE SENSING:
• Tactile sensing is usually interpreted as touch sensing, but tactile sensing is
different from a simple touch where very few discrete force measurements are
made.
• In tactile sensing a force distribution is measured using a closely spaced array of
force sensors.
• Tactile sensing is particularly important in two types of operations:
1. Grasping and
2. object identification.
• In grasping object has to be held in a stable manner without being allowed to slip
and without being damaged.
• Object identification includes recognizing or determining the shape, location and
orientation of object.
• The above tasks would require two types of sensing.
1. Continuous variable sensing of contact forces.
2. Sensing of the surface deformation profile.
• These two types of data are generally related through the constitutive relations of the tactile
sensors, touch surface or of the object that is being grasped.

TACTILE SENSOR REQUIREMENTS:

• Applications which are very general and numerous, include automated inspection of surface
profiles and joints for defects, parts identification and gaging in manufacturing applications
and fine manipulation tasks.
• The tactile sensor should have a compliant covering with skin like properties along with
enough degrees of freedom for flexibility and dexterity, adequate robustness and some local
intelligence for identification and learning purposes.
• Typical specifications for and industrial tactile sensor are
1. Spatial resolution of about 2mm.
2. Forces resolution of about 2gm.
3. Force capacity of about 1kg.
 4. Response time of 5ms or less.
5. Low hysteresis.
6. Durability under harsh conditions.
7. Insensitivity to change in environmental conditions.
8. Capability to detect and even predict slip.

OPERATION OF TACTILE SENSORS:

• A schematic representation of a optical tactile sensor is shown below.
• The light source, the beam splitter and solid state camera form an integral unit.
• The splitter plate reflects part of the light from the light source onto a bundle of optical
fiber.
• The image processor computes the deflection profile and the associated tactile force
distribution.
Proximity sensor
A proximity sensor is a sensor able to detect the presence of nearby objects without
any physical contact.

A proximity sensor often emits an electromagnetic field or a beam of 

electromagnetic radiation (infrared, for instance), and looks for changes in the field or
return signal.

The object being sensed is often referred to as the proximity sensor's target.

Proximity sensors can have a high reliability and long functional life because of the
absence of mechanical parts and lack of physical contact between the sensor and the
sensed object.

Proximity sensors are also used in machine vibration monitoring to measure the
variation in distance between a shaft and its support bearing. This is common in large
steam turbines, compressors, and motors that use sleeve-type bearings.
Types of Proximity sensors

Capacitive
Capacitive displacement sensor
Doppler effect (sensor based on doppler effect)
Inductive
Magnetic, including magnetic proximity fuse
Optical
Photoelectric
Photocell (reflective)
Laser rangefinder
Passive (such as charge-coupled devices)
Passive thermal infrared
Radar
Reflection of ionizing radiation
Sonar (typically active or passive)
Ultrasonic sensor
Fiber optics sensor
Hall effect sensor
Capacitive touch systems exploit the property that from an electronic circuit point of view,
human beings not much more than large bags filled with a salty (and therefore conductive)
liquid.

Such objects usually have a pretty good connection with (earth) ground, either directly
(resistively) or indirectly (capacitively).

Since capacitive sensors typically are used to measure how far away this ground is, it looks like
ground is coming closer when the user moves his hand closer to the sensor, and ground is
moving further away when the user removes his hand.

For such systems, the hand of the user (and actually all conducting objects with a reasonably
well defined potential) act as one plate of a capacitor and the capacitive sensor itself is the
other plate.

The closer these plates are, the larger the capacitance is.

The sensor itself consists of a conductive surface (usually a copper pad on a PCB) and forms
one side of the capacitor.

The sensor itself has a very weak connection to ground and thus there are only a few electrical
field lines flowing from the sensor to ground and from sensor to the user. The capacitance
measured by the sensor in this case is very low.
photoelectric sensor or Optical Sensor

A photoelectric sensor, is an equipment used to discover the distance,

absence, or presence of an object by using a light transmitter, often 
infrared, and a photoelectric receiver.

They are largely used in industrial manufacturing.

There are three different useful types: opposed (through-beam), retro-

reflective, and proximity-sensing (diffused).
inductive proximity sensor
A inductive proximity sensor can detect metal targets
approaching the sensor, without physical contact with the
target. Inductive Proximity Sensors are roughly classified
into the following three types according to the operating
principle: the high-frequency oscillation type using
electromagnetic induction, the magnetic type using a
magnet, and the capacitance type using the change in
capacitance.
A high-frequency magnetic field is generated by coil L in the oscillation circuit. When a target
approaches the magnetic field, an induction current (eddy current) flows in the target due to
electromagnetic induction. As the target approaches the sensor, the induction current flow
increases, which causes the load on the oscillation circuit to increase. Then, oscillation
attenuates or stops. The sensor detects this change in the oscillation status with the amplitude
detecting circuit, and outputs a detection signal.
Ultrasonic Proximity sensor
The ultrasonic proximity sensor uses a transducer to send and receive high-
frequency sound signals. If the incoming target sound range is reflected again to
the sensor, causing the sensor to activate or not activate the output circuit.
Piezoelectric ceramic plates are installed inside the sensor surface. This
can send and receive high-frequency pulses.

The high-frequency voltage applied to the disk causes it to vibrate at

the same frequency.

Plate vibrations produce high-frequency sound waves. If sent a pulse

attack the object will reflect the sound, then the echo is generated.

The duration of the reflected pulse is evaluated on the transducer.

If the target enters the preset operating area, the sensor output
changes state.

If the target leaves the preset operating area, the output returns to the
initial state.
Range sensors

The distance between the object and the robot hand is measured using the range
sensors Within it is range of operation.
 
The calculation of the distance is by visual processing. Range sensors find use in
robot navigation and avoidance of the obstacles in the path.
 
 
 
The - location and the general shape characteristics of the part in the work envelope ofthe
robot S done by special applications for the range sensors.
 
There are several approaches like, triangulation method, structured lighting approach and
time-of flight range finders etc. In these cases the source of illumination can be light-source,
laser beam or based on ultrasonic.ca
Triangulation Method:
The object is swept over by a narrow beam of sharp light.
 
The sensor focused on  a small  spot  of the object surface detects the reflected
beam of light.
 
If  ‗8‘is the angle made by the ill source and the sensor, the dist
Spur Gear

Helical Gear
Bevel Gear

Worm Gear
Rack and Pinion
Belt Drives

Belt Drives are a type of frictional drives used for transmitting powers from one shaft to another
by means of pulleys which rotate at the same speed or at the different speed.

The following are the 5 main types of Belt Drives:

Open belt drive.

Crossbelt drive.
Stepped cone pulley or speed cone drive.
Fast and loose pulleys.
Jockey pulley drive.
Chain Drives

Chain drives are suitable for small centre distances and can be used generally up to 3 meters but
in special cases even up to 8 meters. Chain drives transmit power up to 100kw and operating
peripheral velocity up to 15m/s. The velocity ratio can be as high as 8:1.
The different types of chains used in power transmission are,

Roller chain
Silent chain
Leaf Chain
Flat-top Chain
Engineering Steel Chain
1. Roller Chain (Bush Roller Chain) 2. Silent Chain

3. Leaf Chain 4. Flat-top Chain

5. Engineering Steel Chain