Indira Gandhi National

Open University
Final Year Course
ROBOTICS
(BME-029) By
K.Kiran Kumar
Assistant professor
Mechanical engineering department
B.S.Abdur Rahman University
Email:- [email protected] / [email protected]
 BLOCK-1
Topics
ROBOT AND ITS APPLICATIONS

UNIT 1- Configuration and classification

UNIT 2- Actuators and sensors

UNIT 3- Applications
 UNIT 1
Configuration and classification
Definition:
“A robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts,
tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a
variety of tasks.” (- by Robot Institute of America (RIA))

Normally Robots are classified as industrial

and non-industrial (or) special purpose robots
 Four Ds of Robotics
• If the job is
1. Dull (Repetitive)
2. Dirty (unhygienic)
3. Difficult (unhealthy)
4. Dangerous (hazardous)
In the above conditions Robots are employed.
Human may not be able to do the job efficiently for
hours, so the work should be done by robots.
 Laws of Robotics
The term robotics was coined in the 1920s by science
fiction writer Isaac Asimov.

Asimov's Laws of Robotics:

1. 1.) A robot should not injure a human being, or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. 2.) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human

beings except where such order would conflict with the
First Law.
3.
• 3.) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
 Contd…
• First rule is if the job/task is dull, dirty, difficult and
dangerous, human may not be able to do the job
efficiently for hours. Therefore the job is appropriate
for automation or robotic labour.
• The second rule is that robot may not leave a human
jobless, it must make our lives more enjoyable, not
miserable.
• This rule involves asking whether you can find people
who are willing to do the job, if not the job is for
automation or robotics.
• Fourth rule is that use of robots or automation must
make short-term and long-term economic sense.
 Benefits of Robots

 Repetitive tasks that robots

can do 24/7.
 Repetitive tasks.
 Hazardous tasks.
 Impossible tasks.
 Robots can operate
equipment to much higher
precision than humans that is
more accurate than humans.
 Classification of robots
Based on configuration
• Cartesian robot /Gantry robot (PPP Configuration):
Used for pick and place work, application of sealant, assembly
operations, handling machine tools and arc welding. It's a robot whose arm has three
prismatic joints, whose axes are coincident with a Cartesian coordinator.
 Contd…
• Cylindrical robot( RPP Configuration):
Used for assembly operations,
handling at machine tools, spot welding, and
handling at die casting machines. It's a robot whose
axes form a cylindrical coordinate system.
 Contd…
• Polar (spherical) robot (RRP Configuration):
Used for handling at machine tools,
spot welding, die casting, fettling machines, gas welding
and arc welding. It's a robot whose axes form a polar
coordinate system.
 SCARA
(Special case of RRP Configuration)
(Selective compliant Articulated Robotic arm)
 Anatomy of the
Articulated
Robot
RRR-Configuration
 Types of Robot
• Automated
Guided
vehicles
(AGV’s)

• Walking/crawling
robots

• Humanoid
robots
parallel
Robots
(Stewart – Gough
Platform)
 Actuation system wise
• Robots are driven by either electric power or
fluid power.
• The fluid power is subdivided into pneumatic
and hydraulic.
• Today, the most common drive method is
electric with various types of motors, e.g.,
stepper motor, servo motors, DC servomotor
and brushless AC servo motor etc.
 Control method wise
• Here the word control indicates two things,
one is motion control strategy, i.e. whether a
robot is servo controlled or not, and the other
one is how the motion or path is achieved, i.e.
point-to-point or continuous.
1. Servo/Non servo control
2. Path control
 Servo/Non servo control
• Robots are either Non-servo controlled (open loop) or Servo
controlled (Closed loop).
• Pneumatic robots are usually non-servo controlled.
• In this case, a command signal is sent and it is assumed that the
robot arm reaches its intended position, usually a fixed or
programmable mechanical stop.
• Non-servo control is adequate where position control of light loads
is required.
• However, if the velocity, acceleration and torque are to be
controlled or if movement against heavy loads is necessary than the
non-servo control is usually not possible.
• The majority of the industrial robots today use servo control.
 Contd….
• Most electric and hydraulic robots are servo controlled.
• To gain full advantage of the digital or microprocessor control to
achieve good precision under heavy load conditions, and to carry
out complex tasks with confidence, full servo control is necessary.
• In this method of control, commands are sent to the arm drives to
move each axis.
• The actual movement is monitored for both the displacement and
velocity, and compared with the command signals.
• The difference between the command and the action is the error .
• This value is used as feedback to the controller to enable further
commands to be modified accordingly.
 Path control
• In this method the robot arm moves from one desired
point to the next without regard to the path taken
between them.
• The actual path taken may be the result of a
combination of arm link movements calculated to
provide the minimum travel between the points.
• Point to point control is widely used for assembling,
palletizing, and machine tool loading/unloading.
• In continuous path control, the robot moves along a
continuous path taught with specified orientations. For
example in spray painting the signal from the sensors
of the joints are constantly monitored by the robot
controller.
 Program wise
• Industrial robots can be programmed by various
means.
• They can be programmed either on-line or off-
line.
• On-line methods require direct use of the robot
and will utilize teach pendant for point to point
programming, and slave arms with pistol grip
adjustments for continuous path programming.
• Present day robots have the provision to be
programmed off-line, i.e. the robot can continue
working on a particular task while a program for a
new task is prepared on a computer terminal
using a programming language.
 Types of robots
based on motion type
• Pick and place
– Moves items between points
A SCARA robot (Selective Compliant
Articulated Robot Arm): A pick-and-place
robot with angular
x-y-z positioning (Adept Technology)

• Continuous path control

– Moves along a programmable path
A six-axis industrial robot ($60K)(Fanuc
Robotics), but an additional $200K may be often
spent for tooling and programming.

• Sensory
– Employs sensors for feedback
 Pick and Place
• Moves items from one point
to another

• Does not need to follow a

specific path between
points

• Uses include loading and

unloading machines, placing
components on circuit
boards, and moving parts
off conveyor belts. A Cartesian robot for
picking and placing circuits
on circuit-boards
 Continuous path control
• Moves along a specific path.

• Uses include welding, cutting,

machining parts. Robotic seam welding
 Sensory
• Uses sensors for feedback.

• Closed-loop robots use

sensors in conjunction with
actuators to gain higher
accuracy – servo motors.

• Uses include mobile

robotics, telepresence,
search and rescue, pick and
place with machine vision.
 Few Robot Manufacturers and their
programming languages
S.No. Manufacturer Country Programming language

1 Cincinatti Milacron USA MCL

2 Unimation Inc. (PUMA) USA VAL

3 IBM USA AML

4 GM (Allergo) USA HELP

5 Fanuc JAPAN KAREL

6 Sankyo JAPAN SERF

7 Olivetti ITALY SIGLA

8 Scemi FRANCE LM
 Popular Robot manufacturers

• Fanuc (Japan)
• Sankyo (Japan)
• Mitsubishi (Japan)
• Kuka (Germany)
• ABB (Sweden, US)
• Adept (US)
• Seiko (Japan)
• Motoman (Japan)
• Panasonic (Japan)
 Robot Components
Parts of a robot

Robots use arms, end effectors (grippers), drive

mechanisms, sensors, controllers, gears and motors to
perform the human-like functions necessary to perform
their intended jobs.
Physical components
 ROBOTS SUBSYSTEMS
• A Robotic system consists of mainly three subsystems they are:
1. Motion subsystem
2. Recognition subsystem
3. Control subsystem
 The motion subsystem is the physical structure that carries out desired motions
similar to human arms or legs.
 The recognition subsystem uses various sensors to gather information about any
object being acted upon, about the robot itself, and about the environment. It
recognizes the robot’s state, the objects, and the environment from this
information.
 The control subsystem influences the robot motion to achieve a given task using
the information received from recognition subsystem.
 Motion subsystem
The elements of motion subsystem are:
• Manipulator
• End effector
• Actuators
• Transmission system(or) drives.
Desired Trajectory for Driving End-effector position
End-effector input
Controller Robot

Sensor

Robot Subsystems
 Contd…
• The block diagram of Robot subsystems represents the interactions
between the three subsystems.
• It may be useful to point out here that a person with mechanical
engineering background normally works on motion subsystem.
• Person with computer science background and electrical engineering
knowledge focuses on the recognition and control subsystems,
respectively.
• However, robotics is an interdisciplinary area and a comprehensive
knowledge of all three areas will certainly help to design and develop
better robotic systems.
• As a result it is not uncommon to see people crossing their boundary of
specialization.
• Often a mechanical engineering specialist is seen working on Artificial
Intelligence (Recognition subsystem), while one with electrical engineering
or computer science background deals with dynamic simulation and
design of robots (Motio sub system).
 Manipulator
• This is the physical structure of the robot which moves around.
• It consists of rigid ‘links’ (also called as ‘bodies’) and joints (also called ‘kinematic
pairs’) that are connected in series for example PUMA (programmable Universal
Manipulator for Assembly) robot.
• Each link is made of steel or aluminium, and other materials also depending on
requirements.
• The joints are generally ‘rotary’ or ‘translatory’ types.
• For example a revolute joint is hinge of a door or the joints in the fingers of a human
hand.
• A prismatic joint, on the other hand, is a pneumatic or hydraulic piston-cylinder
arrangement.
• Like the human hand, a robotic manipulator has three parts.
• The first two are the arm and the wrist, the third one is hand or end effector.
• The function of the arm is to place an object in a certain location in the three-
dimensional cartesian space.
• The wrist serves to permit placement in a desired orientation.
• The first three links and joints from the base form the ‘arm’ and the last three joints
(with mutually intersecting axes) make up the wrist.
 End-effector
• This is the part attached to the end of the
manipulator. These are classified as :
1. Mechanical hand that manipulates an object or
holds it before they are moved by manipulator.
These hands in turn are of various types, e.g. a
simple two-fingered gripper that can hold
simple objects, where as multi-fingered hand,
can perform complicated tasks.
2. A specialized tool like welding electrode, gas-
cutting torch, painting brush, or grinding wheel,
etc.
Examples
 Contd..
Types of end effectors are as varied as the jobs a robot may be called upon to perform.
This could be assembly, connectivity, cutting, dispensing, machining, material
handling, or welding. They can generally be grouped into the following areas:

Gripping devices:
Grippers or claws, fingers, hooks, scoops, electromagnets, and vacuum tips. These
are generally used to grab something to move it from one location to another.

Welding / cutting devices

End devices used for spot welding, arc welding or arc cutting. Plasma cutting would
also fall under this heading. Automobiles moving along an assembly line are
usually welded together with this type of robot.

Tools:
Power tools, whether electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic, that will drill, bur, grind,
sand, thread, or drive screws or nuts fit into this category. Most any power hand
tool could feasibly be used at the end of a robotic arm.
 Contd…
Measuring devices:
Any instruments, such as dial indicators, depth gages, or other devices used to ensure
accuracy of a process.

Application:
Any device such as a spray gun for applying glue, foam insulation, paint or other
coatings.

Specialty:
Any devices or fixtures used for specific machining and assembly purposes. These will
vary according to the product and manufacturing processes used.
 Actuators and Transmission
• Actuators form the muscles of the robots that
move the manipulator carrying a suitable end-
effector.
• Actuators are of different types depending on
the principle of their operations, i.e. hydraulic
or electric etc.
• Transmission elements transmit motion from
the actuators to actual links of the
manipulator and its hand.
 Recognition Subsystem
• The most important subsystem is the sensor which is like our eyes or nose.
Inclusion of sensors to a robot changes its dumb nature to an intelligent one.
Sensors:
 Most of the sensors are essentially transducers. These convert one form of energy
to another.
 For example, the human eye converts light patterns into electrical signals. Sensors
fall into one of the several general areas, vision, touch, range and proximity
detection, navigation, speech recognition, etc.
Analog-to-digital converter (ADC):
 This electronic devices interfaces the sensors with the robot’s controller.
 For example, an ADC converts the voltage signal due to the strain in the strain
gauges to the digital signal, i.e. 0 or 1, so that the digital robot controller can
process the information.
 They physically look like any other computer interface and card inside the central
processing unit (CPU) box.
 Control subsystem
• It mainly consists of Digital-to-Analog
converter (DAC) and a digital controller.
Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)
A DAC serves the purpose opposite to an ADC.
It serves the purpose of the digital signal from
the robot controller is converted into an
analog signal to activate the actuators for e.g.
an equivalent voltage to be applied to a DC
electric motor.
 Digital controller
• The digital controller is a special electronic device that has a central processing
unit (CPU), memory, and sometimes hard-disk to store programmed data.
• It is used to control the movement of the manipulator and its end-effector.
• A robot controller is like a supervisor in a factory.
• Since a computer processes the user programmed commands and sends the
signals to the actuators through the DAC, the programming languages can be used
as same as that of the computers, i.e. BASIC, Fortran, C and C++.
• However for commercial robots, company specific languages can also be used.
 UNIT 2
Actuators and sensors
Actuators are the muscles of the robots, which comprise of the following
components:
1. Power supply
2. Power amplifier
3. Motor
4. Transmission system.
 To choose the actuator the design requirement is on mechanical power by
the force and velocity that describe the joint motion.
 Actuation of the joint motion is entrusted to ‘motors’ which allow realizing
a desired motion for the mechanical system.
 Sensors in robots, on the other hand are like our eyes, nose, ears, mouth
and skin.
 Contd…
• Pneumatic Drives: It uses pneumatic energy provided by the compressor
and transform it into mechanical energy by means of pistons or turbines.
 These are often coupled directly with robot links without any additional
transmission system.
 Hence they are frequently referred to as actuators than motors.
• Hydraulic Drives: It transforms hydraulic energy stored into mechanical
energy by means of suitable pump.
 Due to the similar reasons provided for the pneumatic systems, a hydraulic
system is also commonly referred to as actuators, not motors.
• Electrical Drives: Its primary input supply is the electric energy from the
electric distribution system.
 Since an electric motor generally runs at very high speed it requires a
speed reducing transmission system to drive the relatively slow robot
links.
 Hence, the term actuator is avoided for electric motors unless one refers
to the motor and the transmission system together.
 Characteristics of Actuators for Robotic applications
• Low inertia.
• High power-to-weight ratio.
• Possibility of overload and delivery of impulse forces
and torques.
• Capacity to develop high accelerations.
• Wide velocity ranges.
• High positioning accuracy.
• Good trajectory tracking and positioning accuracy.
 An ordinary motor, which is an open-loop system, is
generally not capable of providing good trajectory and
position accuracy.
 Thus servomotors, i.e. closed-loop controlled motors,
are preferred in robotic applications.
 ACTUATION
• Actuators are the "muscles"
of a robot, the parts which
convert stored energy into
movement.

• The most popular actuators

are electric motors.
 Pneumatic Actuators
These are one of the types of fluid power
devices for industrial robots.
Pneumatic actuators utilize compressed air for
the actuation, and are widely used for
opening and closing of gripper jaws of a robot,
or for the actuation of simple robot arms used
in applications where continuous motion
control is not of concern.
 Advantages
 It is the cheapest actuator, components are readily available and
compressed air is normally an already existing facility in factories.
 Compressed air is clean, explosion-proof and insensitive to
temperature fluctuations, thus leading to many applications.
 They have moving parts making them inherently reliable and
maintenance cost is reduced.
 Since pneumatic systems are common throughout industries,
relevant personnel are often very familiar with the technology.
 No mechanical transmission linkage is usually required.
 It is intrinsically safe in explosive areas as no electrical control is
required. Also in wet conditions there is no danger of
electrocution.
 Control is simple, e.g. mechanical stops are often used.
 Individual components can be easily interconnected.
 Disadvantages
 Since air is compressible, precise control of speed and
position is not easily obtainable unless more complex
electromechanical devices are incorporated into the
system. This indicates only a limited sequence is
available.
 Pneumatics is not suitable for moving heavy loads
under precise control due to the compressibility of air.
It necessitates the application of more force than
would normally be necessary. This is to ensure that the
actuator, when loaded, is firmly in position against its
stop.
 If the moisture penetrates the units where ferrous
metals are used, damage to individual components.
 Hydraulic Actuators
These are suitable for high power applications.
These utilize high pressure fluid such as oil to
transmit forces to the point of application
desired.
These are designed to operate between 70 to
170 bar (1 bar=1atm=14.7 psi=105 Mpa).
 Advantages
 High efficiency and high power-to-size ratio.
 Complete and accurate control of position, speed
and direction of actuators are possible.
 Few backlash problems occur due to the stiffness
and incompressibility of the fluid, especially, when
the actuator acts as the joint itself such as in the
rotary vane actuators.
 No mechanical transmission linkage is required, i.e.
a direct drive is obtained with mechanical simplicity.
 Self lubricating (low wear) and non-corrosive.
 Hydraulic actuators are more capable of
withstanding shock loads than electric motors.
 Disadvantages
• Leakages can occur causing loss in performance, and
general contamination of the work area.
• There is also higher fire risk.
• The power pack can be noisy, typically about 70 dBA ( 70
decibel average which is about the noise level of heavy
traffic) or louder if not protected by an acoustic muffler.
• Changes in temperature alter the viscosity of the hydraulic
fluid. Thus at low temperatures fluid viscosity will
increase, possibly causing sluggish movement of the
robot.
• For smaller robots, hydraulic power is usually not
economically feasible as the cost of hydraulic components
does not decrease in proportionate to size.
 Electrical Drives

Different types of electric motors are

• AC Motors : Not used much in robotics
• Stepper Motors : For controlled rotation
• DC Motors : Finds extensive general use
• Servo Motors : DC motor with in built
feedback & error compensation
 Advantages
• Wide spread availability of power supply.
• The basic drive element in the electric motor is
usually lighter than that for fluid power.
• High power conversion efficiency.
• No pollution of the working environment.
• The accuracy and repeatability of electric drive
robots is normally better than fluid power robots
in relation to cost.
• Being relatively quiet and clean, they are very
acceptable environmentally.
• The drive system is well suited to electronic
control.
 Disadvantages
• Electrically driven robots often require the incorporation of some
sort of mechanical transmission system.
• This adds mass and unwanted movement, necessitates additional
power, and may complicate control.
• Due to the increased complexity with transmission system,
additional cost is incurred for their procurement and maintenance.
• Electric motors are not intrinsically safe. They would not therefore
used for example, explosive atmospheres.
 The above disadvantages are gradually being overcome with the
introduction of direct drive motor systems in which the electric
motor is a part of the relevant robot arm joint, thus, eliminating the
transmission elements.
 Introduction of newer brushless motors allow electric robots to be
used in some fire-risk applications such as spray painting, as the
possibility of sparking at the motor brushes is eliminated.
 Stepper Motors

• These are widely used in

industrial applications.
• To know the final position of
the rotor all that is required
is to count the number of
pulses fed into motor stator
phase winding.
• These commonly have step
angles of 1.8, 7.5, 15, 30, 34.
90 degrees.
• The various types of stepper
motor are:
1. Variable reluctance type
2. Permanent magnet type
3. Hybrid type.
 Disadvantages
(or)
problems encountered
• Very low torque to weight ratio
• Torque decreases with increase in the
stepping frequency
• For sufficiently high stepping speed the
stepper motor may skip steps due to
overshoot
 DC Motors
• As the name suggests, a
motor which uses a DC
(Direct Current) power
• Can run in both directions
• Speed Controllable
 DC Motor Characteristics
• Free running torque & current are ideally zero.
• Increased load implies, increased torque,
current drawn & power consumption.
• Power supplied by a motor is the product of
output shaft’s rotational velocity & torque.
• DC Motors are high–speed, low-torque
devices
• Using gears, the high speed of the motor is
traded off into torque
 AC Motors
• These type were having problem of controlling speed, now however due
to the development of electronic devices capable of handling power, it is
possible to handling power and it is possible to generate varying
frequencies.
• These are of two types single phase and polyphase with each group
subdivided into induction and synchronous motors.
• Single phase motors tend to use low power, while polyphase are used for
high powers.
• Induction motors are very widely used, and it has stators as permanent
magnet which is having rotor inside which rotates continuously.
• Synchronous motors on the other hand have stators similar to those
described for the induction motors, but rotor is the permanent magnet.
• Synchronous motors are used when a precise speed is required.
• Synchronous motors are not self-starting and some system has to be
employed to start them.
 • Servo Motors
 Used in closed loop control
systems in which work is
the control variable.
o An integral feedback device
(resolver) or devices
(encoder and tachometer)
are either incorporated
within the servo motor or
are remotely mounted,
often on the load itself.
 Transmission systems
• The purpose of this systems is to transfer movement from motor to one or
more members of the robot, e.g. arm joints, wrist joints, or gripper
fingers.
• In fluid power systems force is directly applied via actuator usually without
need of mechanical linkages.
• However, in electric robots due to the speeds, torques and masses of the
electric motors, some sort of mechanical drive transmission is necessary.
• Transmission systems can allow rotary movement to be changed to linear
motion and vice-versa.
• The mass of the actuator can be located remotely from the point of
application of force. Different transmission systems are:
1. Gears
2. Belts and chains
3. Screws and nuts
4. Linkages.
 Transducers and sensors
• A Transducer is a device that converts one type of physical variable (e.g.,
force, pressure, temperature, velocity, flow rate, etc.) into another form.
• A common conversion is to electrical voltage, and the reason for making
the conversion is that the converted signal is more convenient to use and
evaluate
• A sensor is a transducer that is used to make a measurement of a physical
variable of interest.
• Some of the common sensors and transducers include strain gauges (used
to measure force and pressure), thermocouples (temperatures),
speedometers (velocity), and pitot tubes (flow rates).
• Any sensor or transducer requires calibration in order to be useful as a
measuring device.
• Calibration is the procedure by which the relationship between the
measured variable and the converted output signal is established.
 Contd…
• Transducers and sensors can be classified into two basic types depending
on the form of the converted signal. The two types are:
1. Analog transducers
2. Digital transducers
 Analog transducers provide a continuous analog signal such as electrical
voltage (or) current.
 This signal can be interpreted as the value of the physical variable that is
being measured.
 Digital transducers produce a digital output signal, either in the form of
a set of parallel status bits or a series of pulses that can be counted.
 In either form, the digital signal represents the value of measured
variable.
 Digital transducers are becoming more popular because of the ease with
which they can be read as separate measuring instruments.
 In addition, they offer the advantage in automation and process control
that they are generally more compatible with the digital computer than
analog-based sensors.
Robotics Sensors & Controllers
What are sensors?
Sensors collect all the
information a robot needs to
operate and interact with its
environment.
What are Controllers?

Controllers interpret all the

input from the sensors and
decide how to act in
response.
 The major capabilities of sensors required for robotic applications

• Simple Touch: The presence or absence of an object.

• Complex Touch: The presence of an object plus some
information on its size and shape.
• Simple force: Measured force along a single axes.
• Complex force: Measured force along two or more
axes.
• Proximity: Non-contact detection of an object.
• Simple vision: Detection of edges, holes, corners, and
so on.
• Complex vision: Recognition of shapes.
What are sensors for?
The control of a manipulator or
industrial robot is based on the correct
interpretation of sensory information.
This information can be obtained
either internally to the robot (for
example, joint positions and motor
torque) or externally using a wide
range of sensors. Major classification:
1. Internal sensors.
2. External sensors.
 Internal sensors
• These are used to measure the internal state
of a robot, i.e. its position, velocity, etc. at a
particular instant of time.
• Based on quantities measured sensors are
termed position, velocity, force sensors and
others.
 Position Sensors
• Position sensors measure the position of each joint i.e. joint angle, of a robot, from these
joint angles one can find the end-effector position and orientation through forward
kinematics.
Encoder: It is a digital optical device that converts motion into a sequence of digital pulses.
 By counting a single bit or by decoding a set of bits, the pulses can be converted to relative or
absolute measurements.
 These are of incremental or absolute type and also each type can be again linear or rotary.
Potentiometer: It is a variable resistance device that expresses linear or angular displacements in
terms of voltage.
LVDT: The linear variable differential transformer is one of the most frequently used displacement
transducers, when high accuracy is needed.
Resolver: These provide a digital output, the resolvers provide analog signal as their output.
 Velocity Sensors
• These measure by taking consecutive position measurements at known
time intervals and computing the rate of change of the position values, or
by directly finding it based on different principles.
Tachometer: These are based on Fleming’s rule which states “the voltage is
proportional to the rate of flux linkage”.
 Here a conductor (basically a coil) is attached to the rotating element
which rotates in a magnetic field (stator).
 If the speed of the shaft increases, the voltage produced at the coil
terminals also increases.
 This information is then digitised using an analog to digital converter
(ADC) and passed on to the robot controller.
Hall effect sensors:
 A flat piece of conductor material is attached to the potential difference
on its two opposite faces.
 The voltage across the perpendicular faces is zero.
 But if the magnetic field is imposed at right angle to the conductor, the
voltage is generated on the two other perpendicular faces.
 Force sensors
• Acceleration sensors: To measure acceleration method is to measure the force
which is the result of mass times acceleration.
• Strain gauges: The principle of this sensor is that the elongation of a conductor
increases its resistance.
 The increase in resistance is due to the increase in the length of the conductor and
decrease in the area of the conductor.
 These are glued to the surface where the change in resistance is measured by
attaching it to the wheatstone bridge circuit.
• Piezoelectric sensors: These work based on the principle of piezo electric effect.
 This effect states that when asymmetrical, elastic crystals are deformed by a force,
an electric potential will be developed within distorted crystal lattice.
 If a potential is applied between the surfaces of the crystal, it will change its
physical dimensions.
 The magnitude and polarity of the induced charges are proportional to the
magnitude and direction of the applied force.
 The piezoelectric materials are quartz, tourmaline, rochalle etc.
 External sensors
• Contact type (limit switch) and
• Noncontact type
 Proximity sensors
These detect the presence of an object, they are mainly two types, inductive and
capacitive.
1. Inductive proximity sensors are used in place of limit switches for non-contact
sensing of metallic objects.
2. Capacity proximity sensors are used on the same basic principle as inductive
proximity sensors.
 Semiconductor displacement sensor
1. These use light emitting diode or laser as a light source and position-sensitive
detector (PSD).
 VISION SYSTEM
• Vision sensors can be considered classified as external non-contact type.
• Vision systems coverage is from a few millimeters to tens of meters depending upon
system needs and design.
• Every vision system requires a sensor to cover the visual image into electronic signal.
Image Acquistion:
• An image is obtained using camera and digitised for further processing.
Image Processing:
• Image analysis examines digitised data to locate and recognise an object within the
image field.
• Most image analysis techniques include segmentation, Parameter extraction and
Pattern recognition.
1. Segmentation:
 This process breaks the scene into several pieces or segments and allows the desired
object to be isolated.
2. Parameter extraction:
 This process determines the key feature such as size, position, orientation, shape,
intensity, colour and texture.
3. Pattern Recognition:
 It attempts to match the observed features against stored criterion, thus allowing
the objects to be identifed
 Contd…..
• A major problem in this area is errors caused by changing shadows and
effect of edge detectors, or even various software errors propagate
through the analysis.
• Image processing can be very time consuming.
• For typical sensors of 200,000 or more pixels, a vision system can take
many seconds, even minutes to analyze complete scene and determine
the action to be taken.
• Several methods are used to reduce the amount of data handled and
therefore the processing time.
• One approach is the binary vision, which is used when only black-and-
white information is processed.
• In binary vision, a picture is converted into a binary image by
thresholding, where a brightness level is selected.
• All data with intensities equal to or higher than this value are considered
white, all other levels are considered black.
• Another method of shortening process time is to control object
placement so that the objects of interest cannot overlap in the image.
• Complicated algorithms to separate images are then unnecessary, and
the image processing time is reduced.
 Components of vision system
• Camera
• Vision interface
• Video mixer
• Frame grabber
• Robot controller
• Image preprocessor
• Computer
• Image processing software
 Selection methodology
• Selection of actuators and sensors for s robotic system is an important issue for the
effective functioning of the robot.
SELECTION OF ACTUATORS
• Torque and speed are the two primary considerations in choosing a motor for a
particular application.
Mechanical data:
 Peak torque
 Continuous torque at zero speed or continuous stall torque
 Frictional torque
 Maximum acceleration at peak torque
 Maximum speed or no load speed
 Rated speed or speed at rated load
 Rated output power
 Rotor moment of inertia
 Dimensions and weight
 Allowable axial load (or) thrust
 Contd….
Electrical data:
 Electrical time constant
 Torque constant
 Voltage, current data
 Resistance and Inductance

General data:
 Brush life and motor life
 Operating temperature and other environmental conditions.
 Thermal resistance
Motor sizing- optimal speed torque determination
Inertia Matching- The motor rotor inertia should not be very small compared
to load inertia.
Driver- It is desirable to always use PWM(pulse width modulation)
amplifiers in view of their high efficiency.
 Selecting of Sensors
 In selecting sensors, one must decide what the
sensor is to do and what result one expects. The
most important parameters to considered are:
1. Sensitivity
2. Linearity
3. Operating range
4. Response Time
5. Accuracy
6. Reliability
7. Resolution
8. Types of Output
 Contd…
• Sensitivity: It is defined as the ration of change of output to change in input. As an example,
if a movement of 0.01 mm causes an output voltage by 0.02 volt then the sensitivity is 20
volts per mm.
• Linearity: Perfect linearity would allow output versus input to be plotted as a straight line on
a graph paper. It is measure of the constancy of output to input ratio.
• Range: It is a measure of difference between the minimum and maximum values measured.
A strain gauge might be able to measure values over the range from 0.1 to 10 Newtons.
• Response time: It is the time required for a change in input to be observable as a stable
change in output. In some sensors, the output oscillates for a short time before it settles
down to a stable value. One measures response time from the start of an input change to
the time when the output ha s settled to a specified range.
• Resolution: The smallest step the robot can take
• Accuracy: The difference between the actual position of the robot and the programmed
position.
• Repeatability : Will the robot always return to the same point under the same control
conditions
 UNIT-3
Applications
Robots in different fields
• Materials handling
• Welding
• Inspection
• Improving productivity
• Research and exploration sites
• Space applications
• Power plants
• Medical applications
• Laboratory applications
 Industrial applications
1. Material handling
2. Welding
 Spot-welding Robots
 Arc welding Robots
3. Spray painting
4. Assembling
5. Machining
 Advanced/unconventional
applications
• Medical
• Mining
• Space
• Underwater
• Defense
 Most industrial applications of robots can be
divided into following three categories

1. Material handling and machine- loading and

unloading applications
2. Processing applications
3. Assembly and inspection
 Material handling and machine-
loading and unloading applications
• In these applications the robot’s function is to
move materials or parts from one location in
the work cell to some other location.
 Processing applications

• This category includes spot welding, arc

welding, spray painting and other operations
in which the function of the robot is to
manipulate a tool to accomplish some
manufacturing process in the work cell.
 Assembly and inspection

• Basically these are two separate operations which

we include together in this category.
• Robotic assembly is the field in which industry is
showing great interest because of economic
potential.
• For example SCARA robot is a configuration which
performs assembly operations.
• Inspection robots would make use of sensors to
gauge and measure quality characteristics of
manufactured product.
Tasks which are:
Advanced Applications
– Dangerous
• Space exploration
• chemical spill cleanup
• disarming bombs
• disaster cleanup

– High precision or high speed

• Electronics testing
• Surgery
• precision machining.

– Repetitive applications
• Welding car frames
• part pick and place
• manufacturing parts.
 Case study
Space Project application
The Mars 2003 Rover Project is
designed to have two scientific
rovers going to Mars in 2003.

Each rover will search for evidence

of liquid water that may have
been present in Mars past.

The rovers will be identical to each

other, but will land at different
regions of Mars.
Characteristics of robots in space
missions:
 Compactness and Lightness
 Robustness
 Versatility and Adaptability
 Case study
Robotics for bio-production
Many robots for bio-production have
been developed in the world and it is
predicted that they will be
commercialized in the 21st century,
since some of them were already
commercialized by some companies in
Japan and European countries.
A tomato and cherry tomato harvesting
robot, a cucumber harvesting robot,
strawberry harvesting robots, a multi-
operation robot to work in grapevine
yard, and a chrysanthemum cutting
sticking robot.
 Case study
Hazardous working application
HAZBOT III is part of JPL's Emergency Response Robotics Project, a
five-year effort begun in 1991 to apply robotics technology to the
safe handling of hazardous materials.
Robots such as HAZBOT also hold potential for use in mining and law
enforcement.
"It's almost standard now to have robots on bomb squads in major
cities, but it took several years for the idea to catch on," said Richard
Welch, task manager of Emergency Response Robotics at JPL.
Underwater explorations
 Robot economics and safety
Robot economics
1. Purchase Price of Robot.
2. Special Tooling
3. Installation
4. Maintenance and periodic overhaul
5. Operating Power
Potential benefits:
 Increased productivity
 Quality improvement
 Increase in throughput
 Robot safety
• THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL MACHINERY AND ROBOT IS
THAT A ROBOT CAN BE :
– PROGRAMMED TO DO DIFFERENT JOBS.
– REACT TO CHANGES IN THE PROCESS, EVEN MAKING DECISIONS FROM A
LIMITED NUMBER OF CHOICES.
• SAFETY IS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION IN INSTALLING, PROGRAMMING,
OPERATING, AND MAINTAINING ROBOT SYSTEMS.
• THE CAUSES OF EMPLOYEE INJURY IN ROBOTIC ENVIRONMENT INCLUDES:
– PARTS OF THE BODY BEING CAUGHT.
– BEING STRUCK BY A PART OR ROBOT GRIPPER.
– FALLING FROM THE EQUIPMENT OR STRUCTURE.
– SLIPPING OR TRIPPING ON WALKING OR WORKING SURFACES.
– EXPOSURE TO DANGEROUS LEVELS OF HEAT OR ELECTRICITY
– EXCESSIVE PHYSICAL STRAIN
 HUMAN FACTOR ISSUES

• HUMAN FACTOR(ERGONOMICS) ISSUES OR ENGINEERING IS THE STUDY OF

THE HUMAN-MACHINE INTERACTION AND IS DEFINED AS AN APPLIED
SCIENCE THAT COORDINATES THE DESIGN OF DEVICES, SYSTEMS AND
PHYSICAL WORKING CONDITIONS WITH THE CAPACITIES AND
REQUIREMENTS OF THE WORKER.

• A MACHINE OR ROBOT SYSTEM DESIGNED WITH POOR ERGONOMICS WILL

BE UNCOMFORTABLE AND TIRING TO USE, MAY EVEN BE DANGEROUS.

• BESIDES THE SIZE OF A ROBOT’S WORK ENVELOPE, ITS SPEED, ITS

PROXIMITY TO HUMANS, AND INTERACTION WITH OTHER MACHINERY,
MANY OTHER FACTORS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AND INVESTIGATED SUCH
AS:
– THE LAYOUT OF CONTROL PANELS.
– TEACH-PENDANT ACCURACY.
– PERSONNEL TRAINING
– BARRIER GUARDS.
– SAFETY DEVICES.
– INTERLOCKS.
– WARNINGS
 LEVELS OF ROBOT SAFETY
• THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS DEFINES THREE LEVELS OF
SAFETY SENSOR SYSTEMS IN ROBOTS.
– LEVEL 1 --- PERIMETER PENETRATION DETECTION.
– LEVEL 2 --- INTRUDER DETECTION INSIDE THE WORKCELL
– LEVEL 3 --- INTRUDER DETECTION IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY
OF THE ROBOT.

• LEVEL 1 SYSTEMS ARE INTENDED TO DETECT THAT AN INTRUDER HAS

CROSSED THE PERIMETER BOUNDARY OF THE WORKCELL WITHOUT
REGARD TO THE LOCATION OF THE ROBOT.

• LEVEL 2 SYSTEMS ARE DESIGNED TO DETECT THE PRESENCE OF AN

INTRUDER IN THE REGION BETWEEN THE WORKCELL BOUNDARY AND
THE LIMIT OF THE ROBOT WORK VOLUME.

• LEVEL 3 SYSTEMS PROVIDE INTRUDER DETECTION INSIDE THE WORK

VOLUME OF THE ROBOT.