Assignment I

Robotics for IEM

September 2023

1 General Notice
1. Important Dates: This assignments starts on 14/09/2023 and ends at 28/09/2023. This means you
should hand in your assignment on BRIGHTSPACE no later than 23:59 at 28/09/2023.

2. You need to hand in a mini-report (made in LATEX) along with code files. The mini-report has to be
brief, clear and easy to read. We cannot grade what we cannot read. In this mini-report, you
only need to write down the answers to the questions below. In particular, you should write down how
you get your answers (e.g., the computation process) rather than only the final results. You can include
figures of your drawings in the mini-report, for instance for drawing frame assignments etc.

Code template files will be provided. These template files provide frameworks and you only need
to fill in what is required. DO NOT change the frameworks of the codes (e.g., the format of the inputs
of a function).
3. Your mini-report will be graded by the TAs, but the code files will be graded automatically by Matlab
scripts. This means that it is your responsibility to make sure that your codes run successfully without
reporting any errors. Unrunable (erroneous) codes and incorrect answers will be graded
ZERO by the automatic scripts. Incorrect answers are those of which the differences from the
correct answers exceed some manually set threshold.
4. To avoid version conflicts, you are encouraged to use MATLAB (2022 or higher) in UWP, pro-
vided by the university, although other versions should work. The recommended robotics toolbox by
Peter Corke is RTB10.4. A manual named RoboticsToolboxManual about the toolbox is available on
BRIGHTSPACE.

2 Hand in Materials for this Assignment

Each student has to hand in a zipped folder on the corresponding assignment page on BRIGHTSPACE. The
name of the this zipped folder should be according to the syntax SNumber Assignmenty.zip. For example, if
S123456 is submitting the first assignment, then the zipped folder should be named S123456 Assignment1.zip.
The contents of the zipped folder is listed below.
• PDF file of the mini-report made in LATEXwith the answers (and derivations) to the questions in Section
3 of this document.

• MATLAB Code files necessary for this specific assignment, being fk.m and arm creation val.m

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3 Questions
Question 1 (40%)
Figure 1 shows a non-planar robot arm with two revolute joints. The base frame (0) and the end-effector
frame (3) have been drawn.
J
1. Assign frames to the two joints. For the directions of the axisN
perpendicular to the paper, represents
pointing vertically outward from the paper, like frame 3, and pointing vertically inward to the paper,
like frame 0. Put your answer in the mini-report. (10 %).

2. Give its Denavit-Hartenberg table. Put your answer in the mini-report. (10%).
3. Derive all neighboring homogeneous matrices i−1
i T , i = 1, 2, 3, and find the 4 × 4 homogeneous trans-
formation matrix 03 T from the base frame to the end-effector frame. Put the answers and derivations
in the mini-report (10 %).

4. Fill the provided incomplete MATLAB function file fk.m. This function takes the two joint angles as
input and returns the
 end-effector
 position, as a 3D vector. Assume the link lengths are L1 = L2 = 1.
x   π π
θ1
Give the position in y for the angles Θ =
  = π and for Θ = π6 and put the in the mini-report
4
θ2 5 2
z
(10%).

Y3

X3
J

Z0
θ2
N

X0
L2
L1
θ1

Figure 1: 2R robot (non-planar)

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Question 2 (60%)
We will use the lightweight, low-cost robotic manipulator AX-18A SMART ROBOTIC ARM throughout the
online lab session, shown in Figure 2. This question requires the use of the Robotics Toolbox developed by
Peter Corke, which you can download here. The needed functionalities of the Toolbox are described in the
manual downloadable from BRIGHTSPACE.

Figure 2: AX18A Robotic Arm

1. Assign frames for the robot arm in the schematic Figure 3, frame 1 is already assigned. Note that the
robot in Figure 3 is not in zero-configuration. Put your answers (drawings) in the mini-report. (15%)

2. Determine the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters and put the DH-table in the report (We use the config-
uration as in Figure 3, which has offsets). (12.5%)
i−1
3. Derive the corresponding neighboring transformation matrices i T , i = 1, ..., 6. put your answers in
the mini-report. (12.5%)

4. Consider an arbitrarily defined robotic arm with a combination of prismatic and revolute joints. How
does each of the DH parameters change as the robot moves in the reachable workspace? What is the
significance of each of the four DH parameters? (10%)
5. Fill the provided incomplete MATLAB script arm creation val.m. Your task is to use the DH parame-
ters and the Robotics Toolbox, create the model of the robotic arm (name the arm pArb). Then plot it
in the zero configuration (see Figure 4). To plot the gripper you can use the command pArb.tool from
the toolbox. Assume the link length parameters are L1 = 17, L2 = 17, L3 = 7, L4 = 4, L5 = 4, L6 = 9
(lengths in cm). (10%)

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 Z6
Y6

X6
L6

θ5

L5

L4

θ4
L3

θ3

Z1
L2 θ2
X1
Y1

L1

θ1

Z0
Y0

X0

π
Figure 3: AX18A schematic, the following offsets exists from the zero configuration: θ2 = 2 , θ3 = − π2

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Figure 4: pArb plotted in zero configuration in the Robotics Toolbox MATLAB