ROBOTICS AND CYBERNETICS FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERS

A robot is a programmable multifunctional manipulator designed to move a material, parts, tools

or specific devices through variable programmable motion for the performance of a variety

specific tasks.

The device is formed with several degrees of freedom, and it employs tasks like material

transfer, spot welding, arch welding and spray painting.

ISO ignition is a machine formed by mechanism appearance of one of the several arms and the

ending in capable of holding the tool work piece or an inspection device

They are mostly used in tasks like material transfer and machine tending.

It is classified into;

 Manual manuscript operated robot

 Fixed sequence robot. It performs a competitive operation according to the preprogram.

 Variable sequence robot. This is a repetitive performed operation according to a

predetermined set of rules whose set of information be changed easily.

 Playback robots. It produces operation initially executed by human control. An operator

initially operates the robot to establish the rules. All the information relevant to the

operator is then loaded to the memory and can be retrieved

 Intelligent robots. They use vision and touch sensors to detect change to the work

environment.

 Android. A robot resembling human physical appearances.

  Place to place robots are robots used to transfer items from a place to place using point to

point motion with little or no trajectory control.

 Numerical controlled robots (NC). It performs a given task according to the sequence

condition and the position as commanded by the numerical data.

Importance of robot manufacturing

 employed mainly to perform tasks that would be performed by humans. They are

desirable for hazardous and monotonous tasks

 little improvements

 offer opportunity for unmanned production

 reducing production cost

 it can access and operate in awkward places.

Basic components of a robot

Manipulator

It is a series of mechanical linkages and the joints capable of providing trajections similar to

those of a human hand. It stimulates the movement of the hand with dexterity.

End effector

End of the arm tooling is the robot equivalent to human arm and holding that the hand grips in

order to perform a particular task scoops, spray guns, electromagnets, attachments, for welding

and cutting. it can use elastic mechanism to lift the force that can be applied on the work piece.

Control systems
This is the communication of the information system that gives command of the movement of

the robot and also stores the sequence data in the memory initiating and stopping motion of a a

manipulator. It interferes with the computers and other equipment’s such as the manufacturing

set.

Teach pendant

This is a hand held device which is possible to position a robot manually. buttons on the pendant

allow specific positions to be recorded to the robot.

Terminologies used in robotics

1) accuracy. It is the measure the closeness a robot comes to the coordinated specified. the

difference between the actual and the desired quality determines accuracy.

2) Actuator. Any device in the robot system that converts electrical hydraulics or pneumatic

energy to mechanical motion.

3) Continuous path. A servo driven robot that provides absolute control along an entire path

of motion but with certain restrictions. The degree of difficulty to changing the program.

4) Controlled path. It is a servo driven robot with a control system that specify the location

and generate different paths such as straight path, circles or interpolated curves with

accuracy

5) Degree of freedom. The number of movable axes the robot has. A robot with three

movable joints has three degree of freedom.

6) Limited sequence. A simple non-servo type of robot whose movement is limited by stop

switches.

7) Payload. Maximum weight a robot can carry at a normal speed.

 8) Point to point. It is a robot with a controlled system for programming a series of points

without regard to coordination axes.

9) Pitch. Up and down movement along the axis

10) Repeatability. The degree at which a robot is able to return to the tool center point

repeatability to the same position.

11) Servo mechanism. An automatic feedback control system for mechanical motion.

12) Roll. Circular motion about an axis

13) Work envelop. The operating range or the reach ability of a robot

14) Yaw. Side to side motion along an axis

15) Robot grippers. A selection of grippers for material handling using robots, governed

mainly by nature of work piece or material to be handled.

Types of grippers;

 Mechanical clamping

 Magnetic clamping

 Vacuum clamping

 Piercing clamping

 Adhesive clamping

Coordinate systems of robots

There are four main coordinate systems robots use; cylindrical spherical/polar

Cartesian/rectilinear articulated

Cartesian
This robot has main frame of three linear axes. The linkages for a robot Cartesian coordinate

motion travels lineally at right angles to each other e;g the coordinates of the end effector

determined from the point variables according to the equation x=a y=b z=c where a, b, c

are the points variables. Cartesian robots are mainly used for material handling and assembling.

Cylindrical

Has a shaft that goes in and out and raises up and down a vertical shaft which rotates about the

base. Has two linear axes and one rotary axis. The coordinates of an end effector x= acosα

y= bsinα and z= c where a, b, c, α are the joint variables. cylindrical robots are

mainly employed in machine tending and machine handling.

Spherical

A spherical robot coordinate robot can move so that the work envelop form the outline on a

sphere. It has one linear axis and two rotary axes. The coordinates for the end effector of

spherical robot are obtained from the joint variables as x= acosα cosβ y=bsinα cosβ

z=asinα spherical robots are mainly used in the welding of materials and material

holding.

Articulate

Can perform similar action to a human shoulder, arm, elbow arrangement and is often referred to

as anthromorphic because of its close resemblance to the human arm. It has three rotary axes.

The equations for the position of the end effector based on the joint variables;

x=[ L1 cos β+ L2 cos ( β +α ) ] cos α

y= [ L1 cos β + L2 cos ( β+ α ) ] sin α

z=[ L1 cos β+ L2 cos ( β +α ) ]

Where L1 and L2 are the lengths of the arm orientation of all robot axes. A controlled path robot

moves in a straight line between programmed points.

They are widely used in welding and assigning

To be able to increase number of degree of freedom and at the same time maintain rigidity. It is a

combination of articulate arm robot and cylindrical robot is used, they are referred to as SCARA

robots

Electric drives

The drive systems supply power for the actuation of the various linkages and joints of the robot

and enable it to move. Most industrial robots use electric drives systems in form of either dc step

up motor drive (open loop control) or a dc servo motor for closed loop control

 Better positional accuracy and repeatability

 Keeps the environment clean

 It however gives low movements compared to hydraulic and pneumatic robots

Hydraulic drives

It uses hydraulic piston in rotary vane actuators. Are preferred at high speeds and substantial

loads. But it occupies large space and there is a danger of oil leakage.

Pneumatic drives
It is used for high speed and high load carrying capacity. It is clean and fast but difficult to

control because air is a compressible fluid. it preferable for small loads and simple material

transfers.

Robot programming control

Lead through programming

The human operator physically grabs the end effector and show the robot exactly what motion to

make and a task for a while, the computer memorize the motion, the joined position, angle and

lengths and then plays it back during the task execution.

Teach programming

Move the robot to a required task position by a teach pendant, the computer memorizes these

configurations and then place them back in the robot motion sequence

A teach pendant is a controller box that allows operator to position the robot by manipulating

buttons in the box

Offline programing

It’s the use of the computer software with a realistic graphic to plan and program motion without

the use of the robot hardware.

Robot sensors

Robots under computer control interact with variety of sensors which are small electronic or

electromechanical components that allow the robot to react to its environment.

Vision
Vision system has a computer controlled camera that allow the robot to see its environment and

adjust its motion accordingly. It is commonly used with the electronic assembly to place circuit

chips accurately through the hole in the circuit.

Sound

Voice system allow control of the robot using the voice command which is useful in training

robots when the trainer has to manipulate other objects

Tactile

Provide the robot with ability to touch and feel this sensor are used for measuring application and

interaction gently with the environment

Force

Provide with the sense of force being applied on the arm and the force direction. It help robot to

autocorrect its alignment or sense load distribution on irregular geometry.

Proximity

Allow the robot to detect presence of something close to the arm before being in contact with the

object. It is a method for avoiding collision.

Limit switches

Limit switches maybe installed at the end of the motion areas in the work space to automatically

slope the robot or reverse its direction when it moves out of bounce. It is used to avoid collision.

Uses of sensors in robotics

There are four important categories of where they are required;

 1. Safety monitoring. They are used in industrial robotics for monitoring the hazards and the

safety conditions in the robot cell layout. It helps to avoid physical injuries and other

damages on humans.

2. Quality control in work part inspection --- sensors are used in the inspection process to

determine the quality of the features of work part automatically

3. Data collection of the objects. When the robot waxen sensors determine position or other

related data about the work parts, equipment, human workers.

4. Interlocking in the work cell control. The sensors are employed to verify the conclusion

of the current work cycle before progressing to the next cycle.

Control systems

A control system is a system that provide a desired response by controlling the output through

varying the input.

Control output
input
system

Control systems are divided into closed loop and open loop control systems

Open loop control system

Actuating
Controller signal plant
output
input
An input is supplied to a controller and it produces an actuating signal which is an input to the

plant or the process to be controlled. The plant uses an output which is from the controller. It is

not fed back to the input so the control action does not depend on the desirable output.

Closed loop control system

Input error Actuating signal plant output

controller

Feedback elements

The output is fed back to the input and the therefore control action is dependent on the desired

output. The error detector produces the error signal which is the difference between the input and

the feedback signal instead of direct input error signal is used as the input to the controller that

will then produce the actuating signal that control the output of the process. The output is

adjusted automatically until the desired response is achieved.

Control systems mathematics

They are mathematical representation of controllers. They are referred to as the mathematical

models. The models are necessary for analysis and design of the control systems. The models

that are mostly used are the differential equation models, transfer function and state space

models.
Differential equations

It is a time domain math model control system. the following steps are followed for the

differential equation model

 Apply a basic law of a given control system

 Get the differential equation in terms of input and output by eliminating intermediate

variables, for example, consider the circuit below;

i
R L

V1
V0

δI
V 1=IR + L +V 0
δT
1
but V 0 = Idt
C∫
2
R dV0 d V0 1
∴ V 1= + 2 + V
L dt dt CL 0

1 d2 V 0 R d V 0 1
V 1= + + V0
LC d t 2 L dt CL
The voltage input is Vi and the across capacitor is the output. The equation for the circuit is
δI
V i=IR + L +V 0
δT
Transfer function
It is the ratio of the Laplace function of the input and the output of the LT1. it corresponds to the

transfer function at Xs Ys

T(f) = Xs : Ys

The transfer function of the LT1 system is

Xs Ys
Xs /Ys

1 d 2 V 0 R dV 0 1
= 2 + + V
LC dt L dt LC 0(t )

1 R 1
V i =S 2 V 0( s) + S V 0 + V
LC ( s) L (s ) LC 0( s)

1 R 1
LC ( s) (
V i = S2 + S + V
L LC 0( s) )
1
V LC
T (f )= 0(s ) =
V I(s) R 1
S2 + S +
L LC

1 Vo
Vi LC
R 1
S 2+ S +
L LC

Consider the damper system below;

y is the distance in meters and v is the force, m is the mass, u is the control input in newton

y
 M u

The transfer function of the damper system is as represented below;

ky

u
M
By

M d 2 y Bdy
u( t ) = + + ky
d t2 dt
2
u s=S My (s )+ SBy (s )+ ky ( s)

u( s)= ( S 2 M + SB+ K ) y

y(s ) 1
T (f )= = 2
u(s) S M + SB+ K

U(s) 1 Y(s)
2
S M + SB+ K
Types
Controllers are used to improve performance of control systems. Basic controllers include

proportional, derivative and integral controllers

Proportional controllers

They always produce an output that is proportional to error signal that is

U(t) α E(t)

U(t) =kpE(t)

U(s)/E(s)= kp

The transfer function of the proportional controllers is kp where U(s) is the Laplace of the

actuating signal E(s) is the Laplace of the error signal and kp is the proportional gain.

The block diagram of unity feedback of the closed loop system is as shown below

R(s) E(s) C(s)

kp G(s)

The proportional controller changes the transfer response as per requirement

Derivative controller

Derivative controller produces an output which is a derivative of the error signal

de
U t =kD
dt (t )
U s=SkD E s

Us
=SkD
Es

Kd is the derivative k. the block diagram of unity negative feedback closed control system

kDs Gs
Us

Integral controller
It produces an output that is an integral of the error signal

U t =kI ∫ Et dt

kI
U s= E
s s
U s kI
=
Es s

The block diagram of the same will look like;

Rs Us
Es Cs
K I/s Gs

It is used for controlling the steady state error

Combination of basic controllers
Proportional derivative controllers (PD)

kD de (t )
U t =kP e t +
dt
U s=kP E s+ skD E s

Us
=kP+ skD
Es

It improves the stability of the system without affecting the steady state error

Proportional integral controller (PI)

It produces an output which is a combination of the output of the proportional and integral

controller. It is necessary for reducing the steady state error without affecting the stability of the

control system.

kI E s
U s=kP E s+
s
PID controllers
The output is the combination of the three basic controllers
It improves the stability of the system as well as reducing the steady state error

Us kI
=kP+ skD+
Es s

Robot vision

Vision is the ability to see and to recognize the objects by collecting the light reflected by these

objects into an image and processing that image. robot vision makes use of the computers or

other electronic hardware to analyze the visual images ad recognize the objects of importance on

the current application of the robot.

The five key components of robot vision include the following;

  Lighting. It is a critical part of the robot vision system that dominate the part to be

inspected allowing its features to stand out so that the vision system can be seen clearly

 Lens. It captures the image and present it to the sensor inform of light

 Sensor. It converts light to digital image for the processor to analyze it

 Vision processing. It consists of the algorithms that review the image and extract required

information

 Communication. The resulting data is communicated out to the world in a useful manner

Steps of robot visual analysis

1. Sensing. This is the process that yields a visual image using the camera

2. Preprocessing. It involves noise reduction and enhancement of the details

3. Segmentation. Partitioning of the image into object of interest.

4. Description. It involves computing of the features to different objects

5. Recognition. It is the process of identifying the objects.

6. Interpretation. This is the assigning od=f the meaning to a group of objects

Operation of the machine visual system

Sensing and digitizing image data hardware

Lighting camera A/D frame grabber

Technique and application

Signal and conversion

a) sampling a given analogue signal is sampled periodically to obtain a series of discreet

time analogue series

 s

b) quantification of each sample discreet time voltage level is assigned to a finite number of

defined amplitude levels. These amplitude levels correspond to the grey scale used

c) encoding converting the amplitude level to a binary digital sequence

d) image storage/frame grabber. It is a machine vision component that captures individual

still frame from an analogue or digital video stream

e) lighting- robot vision image should be plane clear and with sharp contract in the image to

be detected. A light source which matches the sensing range of your camera should be

processed. It is found out by looking at the spectral response of the camera against the

spectral curve of light source.

Image processing and analysis

Signal programs auxiliary program

Computer processor
 Monitor keyboard

Technique and application

1) digital conversion. This reduces the number of grey levels used.

2) Windowing it takes part of the total image for analysis

3) File format and compression. Orderly sequence of data is used to encode digital

information for storage or exchange e.g. JPEG and PNG

4) Thresholding. It is the process of dividing an image into different levels by picking a

certain grayness level as threshold comparing each pixel value to the threshold and

then assigning the pixel to the different levels depending in whether the pixels’

greyness level is below or above the threshold level.

5) Feature extraction. It’s the process of transforming the input data into a set of features

which can very well represent the input data. it is a special form of dimensionality

and reduction to fine image.

6) Object recognition. It’s a computer vision technique for identifying objects in images

or videos. One technique used in recognition known as template matching where

finding of objects in an image is done through matching image with template image.

Applications

Computer processor IF robot controller Task

i. Measurements. After an image of a part is captured, the software compares the

measurements to a required tolerance

ii. Counting. Can be used to count various features of the printed circuit board to ensure that

no component or step are missed in production.

iii. Location. Can be used to locate the position and orientation of a part and to verify proper

assemble within specific tolerance.

iv. Decoding. Machine vision can be used to decode linear stacked and two dimensional

similarities. It is used to sort products on a production line by decoding the symbol on the

product symbol. It can be optical recognition.