Recycling and Updating an Educational Robot Manipulator with Open-Hardware-Architecture

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Mechatronics

Background:

• Educational robot manipulators often lack advanced sensing and control capabilities.
• Upgrading existing robotic systems can be a cost-effective approach to enhancing functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a methodology for recycling and upgrading a 4-DOF educational robot manipulator.
• To integrate artificial vision for object recognition and shape determination.
• To implement a low-cost, decentralized motion control scheme.

Main Methods:

• The robot was upgraded with an artificial vision system for object detection.
• A decentralized control scheme using Arduino Mega boards and proportional integral derivative (PID) controllers was implemented.
• MATLAB-Simulink and the Arduino IO Toolbox facilitated real-time control and a graphical user interface.

Main Results:

• The upgraded robot successfully obtained the position and shape of objects.
• The decentralized control system enabled precise motion control with an anti-windup PID controller and state observer.
• The robot demonstrated the ability to follow trajectories and collect objects while avoiding collisions.

Conclusions:

• The proposed methodology effectively recycles and upgrades educational robot manipulators.
• The integration of artificial vision and a low-cost control system enhances the robot's capabilities for object manipulation.
• The experimental results validate the controller's performance in trajectory following and collision avoidance.