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ROBOT ANATOMY

 The assembly of body, arm and wrist is called “Manipulator”

Attached to the robot’s wrist is a hand or a tool called the end effector.

The arm and body joints of the manipulator are used to position the end effector; wrist joints are
used to orient the end effector.

 Manipulator consists of joints and links//////Joints provide relative motion/////Links are

rigid members between joints/////Various joint types: linear and rotary/////Each joint
provides a “degree-of-freedom”//////Most robots possess five or six degrees-of-freedom

 Robot manipulator consists of two sections://////Body-and-arm – for positioning of objects

in the robot's work volume///Wrist assembly – for orientation of objects

Selective Compliance Assembly Robot

>In terms of repeatability of motion ( the capability to move to a taught point in space with
minimum error), the box frame Cartesian robot probably possesses the advantage because of its
inherently rigid structure.
>In terms of reach (the ability of the robot to extend its arm significantly beyond its base), the polar
and jointed arm configurations have the advantage.
>Gantry xyz robot can be designed for high rigidity and load carrying capacity.
>For machine loading applications, the ability of the robot to reach into a small opening without
interference with the sides of the opening is important. The polar and cylindrical configuration
possess a natural geometric advantage in terms of this capability.

Control method based

Several techniques have been developed to control the
various axes of a robot simultaneously.
Non-servo controlled robots:
>They are also called limited sequence robots, end-point robots controlled by setting mechanical
stops or limit switches to establish the end points of travel of each joint.
>It cannot support intensive programming language.
Servo controlled robots
>These robots are normally subdivided into either Continuous Path (CP) or Point-to-Point (PTP)
devices.
>In either case, information about position, velocity is continuously monitored and fed back to
control system associated with each of the joints of the robot. Consequently each axis loop is closed.
>Use of closed-loop control loop permits the manipulator’s members to be commanded to move
and stop any where within the limits of travel for the individual axes.
>Inaddition, it is possible to control velocity, accelaration, deceleration and jerk for various axes
between the end points. As a consequence, maipiulator vibration is reduced significantly.
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Classification of Robots
Standard Classification and control method based:

Mechanical configuration based

The classification based on mechanical configuration considers the various joints and links
comprising the physical structure of the robot and their relationship to each other.
The majority of commercially available robots can be grouped into four basic configurations:
1. Polar //2. Cylindrical//3. Cartesian //4. Jointed Arm
Polar (Spherical) Configuration
 It uses a telescopic arm that can be raised or lowered about a horizontal pivot.
 This pivot is mounted on rotating base.
 The various joints provide the robot with the capability to move its arm with in a spherical
space.
 Has one linear motion and two rotary motions
 First motion is a base rotation, second motion correspond to an elbow rotation and third
motion is radial or in-out motion
 Capability to move its arm within a spherical space, hence known as ‘Spherical’ robot
 Elbow rotation and arm reach limit the design of full spherical motion
 Advantages  Disadvantages
 Covers a large volume  Complex kinematic model
 Can bend down to pick  Difficult to visualize
objects up off the floor  Applications
 Higher reachability  Palletizing
 Handling of heavy loads e.g.
casting, forging
Cylindrical Configuration
 It uses a vertical column and a slide that can be moved up or down along the columns.
 The robot arm is attached to the slide so that it can be moved radially with respect to the
column.
 By rotating the column, the robot is capable of achieving a work space that approximates a
cylinder.
Cartesian Configuration
 It uses three perpendicular slides to construct x ,y, and z axes.
 Other names are sometimes applied to configuration including xyz robot and rectilinear
robot.
 By moving three slides relative to one another, the robot is capable of operating within a
rectangular work envelope.
Advantages::////Linear motion in three dimension///Simple kinematic model////Rigid
structure///Higher repeatability and accuracy////High lift-carrying capacity as it doesn’t vary at
different locations in work volume////Can increase work volume easily///Inexpensive pneumatic
drive can be used for P&P operation

Jointed Arm Configuration (Revolute)

It resembles an human arm and consists of series of links connected by rotary joints.
This configuration is also sometimes called anthropomorphic as its anatomy is similar to the human
arm. Similar to human arm
Consists of two straight components like human forearm and upper arm, mounted on a vertical
pedestal
Components are connected by two rotary joints corresponding to the shoulder and elbow
Work volume is spherical
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Basic Components of Robotic System

>Actuator can be connected directly to the next link or through some mechanical transmission (in
order to produce a torque or speed advantage /gain).
>The manipulator ends with a link on which tool can be mounted.
The interface between the last link and the tool or end effector is called tool mounting plate or tool
flange.
>The manipulator itself may be thought of being composed of
Power conversion unit
• The power conversion unit contains the
components necessary to take signal
from the sequencer (either
digital/analog) and convert it into a
power level so that actuator can move.
• As an example, this element would
consist of electronic power amplifiers
and power supplies for electric robots,
while in case of pneumatic drives, it
would consist of compressor and
control drives

-The major linkages

-Minor linkages (wrist components)
-End effector (gripper or tool)
>Major linkages are the set of joint-link pairs that grossly position the manipulator in space.
>Minor linkages are those joints and links associated with fine positioning of the end effector.
>They provide the ability to orient the tool mounting plate and subsequently the end effector once
>the major linkages get it close to the desired position.
>The end effector, which is mounted on the tool plate, consists of particular mechanism needed at
>the end of robotic arm to perform a particular task.
>The end effector may be a tool that does function like welding, drilling etc or it may be a gripper if
. the robot’s task is to pick up parts and transfer them to another location.
Sensory Devices
>For proper control of the manipulator the state of each joint, that is its position, velocity,
acceleration is required.
>To achieve this, a sensory element must be incorporated into the joint-link pair. Typically, the
sensor is connected to the actuator’s shaft. It could also be coupled to the output of the
transmission
Controller
• It provides the intelligence to cause the manipulator, to perform in the manner described by
its trainer/user.
• It consists of:
• A memory to store data defining the positions of where the arm is to move and other
information related to proper sequencing of the system (program).
• Sequencer that interprets the data stored in memory and then utilizes the data to interface
with other components of the controller.
• A computational unit that performs necessary computations to aid the sequencer.
• An interface to obtain sensory data into the sequencer.
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• An interface to transfer sequencer information to the power conversion unit so that

actuators eventually cause the joints to move it in the desired manner.
MANIPULATOR KINEMATICS
 A mechanical manipulator can be modeled as an open-loop articulated chain with several
rigid bodies (links) in series by either revolute or prismatic joints driven by actuators.
 One end of chain is attached to a supporting base while the other end is free and attached
with a tool (end effector) to manipulate objects or perform tasks.
 The relative motion of joints results in the motion of the links that positions the hand in a
desired orientation.
 In most robotic applications, one is interested in spatial description of the end effector with
respect to a fixed reference coordinate system.
Joint coordinate system:
By giving the robot the angles each joint should be, the robot can then move to the desired location.
For rotational joint, it can be joint angles (θ1, θ2, … θN). The direct joint parameters can also be
pulses or encoder counts. This is joint space.
World coordinate system: The Cartesian coordinate system with any point in the world which
always remains stationary with respect to robot as the origin.
Robot Root Coordinate system
The Cartesian coordinate system with the origin located at the base center of the robot
Base Coordinate system
The Cartesian coordinate system in which any point on the workpiece is selected as the origin.
Tool Coordinate system
It is the Cartesian coordinate system in which tool center point is taken as the origin and origin is
dynamic in nature.
Forward and Inverse Kinematic Problems
Robots have links and joints, but simple robots can only move joints directly. Real tasks require
controlling position and orientation in different coordinate systems, which primitive robots cannot
relate to joint motions.
Direct Kinematic problem (Forward Kinematics Problem)
For a given manipulator, given the joint angle vector q(t) = (q1(t), q2(t),….,qn(t))T and geometric link
parameters, where n is number of degrees of freedom, what is the position and orientation of the
end effector of the manipulator with respect to a reference coordinate system.
Inverse Kinematics Problem
Given the desired position and orientation of the end effector of the manipulator and geometric link
parameters with respect to reference coordinate system
POSITION REPRESENTATION
The position of the end of the arm may be represented in a number of ways. One way is to utilize the
two joint angles θ1 and θ2 . This is known as representation in joint space.
FORWARD TRANSFORMATION OF 2-DEGREE OF FREEDOM ARM
The position of the end of the arm in world space by defining a vector for link1 and another for link2.
Vector addition yields the coordinates x and y of the end of the arm (point Pw ) in world space.
REVERSE TRANSFORMATION OF 2-DEGREE OF FREEDOM ARM
The robot’s controller must compute the joint angles required to move its end of arm to a point in
space defined by point’s coordinates.
For two-link manipulator there are two possible configurations for reaching the point ( x, y).
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HOMOGENOUS TRANSFORMATIONS AND ROBOT KINEMATICS

a homogeneous transformation is a mathematical concept used to describe the movement or
transformation of a rigid body in space, typically through translations and rotations. It is an essential
tool in kinematics and helps to represent the position and orientation of a robot's end effector, links,
or components relative to each other and a fixed reference frame.
A vector can be translated or rotated in space by means of transformation. The transformation is
accomplished by 4X4 matrix H.
For example, the vector v=25i+10j+20k can be represented in three dimensional space in column
matrix

x direction, b in

the y direction, and c in the z direction H= Trans( a, b, c) =

For the vector v=25i+10j+20k, perform a translation by a distance of 8 in the x direction, 5 in y
direction, and 0 in the z-direction.
The translated vector would be H v =

= Rot(X,0)

D-H NOTATIONS
The definition of manipulator with four joint-link parameters for each link and a systematic
procedure for assigning right handed orthonormal coordinate frames, one to each link in open
kinematic chain, was proposed by Denavi t- Hartenberg (DH) notation.
A frame {i} is rigidly attached to distal end of link i and moves with link i.
An n-DOF manipulator will have (n+1) frames with frame {0} as base frame acting as a reference
frame and frame {n} being the tool frame.
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Sensors in Robot TOUCH OR TACTILE SENSORS Touch or contact sensors are used to obtain
information associated with contact between manipulator hand and objects in the workspace.
They can be divided into
Binary Sensors
Analog Sensors
Binary Sensors
A binary sensor is a contact device e.g. microswitch. A switch is placed on the inner surface of each
finger of a manipulator hand. The movement of the hand over the object and sequentially making
contact with its surface, it is possible to center the hand over the object for grasping and
manipulation
Analog Sensors
The output of an analog sensor is proportional to total force.
Touch Sensors
 They are used to indicate that contact has been made between two objects without regard
to the magnitude of the contacting force.
 Ex. Limit switches, microswitches
Force Sensors
 The capacity to measure forces permits the robot to perform a number of tasks.
 These include the capability to grasp parts of different sizes in material handling, machine
loading, assembly work, applying the appropriate level of force on the part.
Tactile array sensor is a special type of force sensor composed of a matrix of force sensing
elements. The force data provided by this device may be combined with pattern recognition
techniques to describe number of characteristics about the impression contacting the array surface.
Among these characteristics are 1) presence of an object 2) the objects contact area, shape, location
and orientation 3) pressure and pressure distribution 4) force magnitude and location
PROXIMITY AND RANGE SENSORS
Proximity sensors indicate when one object is close to another object. How close the object must be
in order to activate the sensor is dependant on the particular device.
The distance can be anywhere between several millimeters to several feet.
Another application is for sensing human beings in the robot workcell.
Range sensors would be useful for determining the location of an object (i.e. the workpart) in
relation to the robot.
Optical Proximity Sensors
They can be designed using either visible or invisible (infrared) light sources. The active sensors send
out an infrared beam and respond to the reflection of the beam against a target.
This sensor can be used to indicate not only whether or not a part is present, but also the position of
the part.
 The infrared reflectance sensor using an incandescent light source is a common device.
 This feature is useful for locomotion and guidance systems.
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TYPES OF MOTIONS
SLEW MOTION
This corresponds to joint-interpolated movement of the robot arm.
The arm is moved from point to point using the least possible motion for each joint, and in a
coordinated fashion so that all joints start and stop moving at the same time.
JOINT INTERPOLATED MOTION
Joint interpolated motion is the dominant type of joint motion when moving the robot in forward
kinematics. Typically, the robot is commanded to move from the current configuration to a new set
of joint values
The joint interpolated algorithm
1. Examines each joint for the changes in joint angles,
2. estimates the time to accomplish each joint change at the current speed setting, given the
allowable speed for each joint,
3. determines the joint which will take the longest time to accomplish the joint change,
4. then slows the remaining joints down so that all accomplish their change in the same period.
A simple mechanism has two joints described as follows:
Joint 1: Type = Prismatic (sliding)//// Joint speed maximum = 100 mm/s
2. Joint 2:// Type = Revolute (rotational)//// Joint speed maximum = 180 deg/s
STRAIGHT LINE INTERPOLATION
In this interpolation, the robot controller computes the straight-line path between two points and
develops the sequence of addressable points along the path for the robot to pass through.
This type of motion is more demanding for controller to execute except for Cartesian robot.
It is useful for laying material in straight line, arc welding etc.

JOINT SPACE SCHEME AND CUBIC POLYNOMIAL FIT

 The user defines desired trajectory by a number of parameters. A polynomial function is
identified to approximate the trajectory.
 The trajectory planning consists of generating a time sequence of values of different
parameters attained by the polynomial interpolating the trajectory.
 One of the main objective of trajectory-planning algorithm is to achieve a smooth motion of
the manipulator for reducing vibrations and wear of the system.
Path
A path is a locus of points (either in joint space or Cartesian space) to be traversed by the
manipulator to execute the specified tasks. A path is a purely geometric (spatial) description of the
motion.
Trajectory
A trajectory is the time sequence (or time history) of position, velocity and acceleration for each joint
or end-effector of the manipulator.
A trajectory is both a spatial and temporal representation of motion. It can be specified in joint space
or Cartesian space.
Knot points or Via or Interpolation Points
These points are the set of intermediate locations between the start and goal points on the
trajectory through which manipulator must pass enroute to the destination.
Spline
It is the smooth function that passes through set of via points.
Trajectory Generation
It is the act of computing trajectory as a time sequence of values in a real time, using the trajectory
planning algorithm based on the spatial and temporal constraints.
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Path Update Rate

The rate at which points are computed at run time is called path update rate.
Steps in trajectory planning
Task Description
It is to identify kind of motion required. Incase of pick and place operations the task is specified as
initial and final end effector location. This is called PTP motion.
In PTP except the constraint that the motion be smooth, no specification about the intermediate
locations and planner is free to formulate convenient path.
Apart from required task attributes, the user can also specify temporal attributes such as travel time.
Selecting and Employing Trajectory Planning Technique
In case of PTP motion (with or without via points) joint space techniques are employed in which
motion planning is done at the joint level.

LEAD THROUGH PROGRAMMING methods require the programmer to move the manipulator
through the desired motion path and that path be committed to memory by the robot controller.
Robot programming with textual languages is somewhat like computer programming. The
programmer types in the program on the monitor using high level English like language.
Powered leadthrough method
 It makes use of a teach pendant to control the various joint motors, and power drive the
robot arm and wrist through a series of points in space.
 Each point is recorded into memory for subsequent play back during the work cycle.
It is largely limited to point-to-point motions rather than the continuous movement because of the
difficulty in using the teach pendant to regulate complex geometric motions in space.
 involves smooth, complex curvilinear movements of the robot arm
 must execute a smooth, regular motion pattern
 Continuous arc welding is another example in which continuous path programming
ROBOT LANGUAGES
 Two of the IBM programming languages AUTOPASS and AML (A Manufacturing Language)
and second one is available with IBM’s robotic products. Both of these languages are
directed at assembly and related products.
 Later RAIL (Robotic Automatix Incorporated Language) was introduced in 1981
 MCL (Manufacturing Control Language) is developed under U.S Airforce and McDonnell-

Douglas as an enhancement of APT.

GENERATIONS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
First generation languages
They use a combination of command statements and teach pendant procedures for developing
robot programs.
They are developed to implement motion control. Typical features include ability to define
manipulator motions straight line interpolation, branching, and elementary sensory commands
involving binary signals.
(MOVE), input/output capabilities (WAIT,SIGNAL) and to write subroutines (BRANCH).
VAL language is an example of first generation programming language.
SECOND GENERATION LANGUAGES
 They overcome the limitations of first generation languages add to their capabilities by
incorporating features that make the robot seem more intelligent.
 AML(A Manufacturing Language), RAIL(Robotic Automatix Incorporated Language), MCL
(Manufacturing Control Language) and VAL II.
 The features and capabilities include:
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 Motion Control : It is same as first generation languages.

 Advanced sensor capabilities: Capability to deal with more than simple binary signals and
capability to control devices
FUTURE GENERATION LANGUAGES In a programming scheme based on world modeling, the robot
possesses knowledge of three dimensional world and is capable developing of its own step-by-step
procedure to perform a task based on a stated objective of what is to accomplished.
Derive Overall Transformation Matrix
Set 1: We use the Denavit–Hartenberg (DH) convention.
For link i, the four parameters are:

Corresponding transformations are:

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BOOLEAN ALGEBRA
Ladder programs can be derived from Boolean expressions since we are concerned with a
mathematical system of logic.
In Boolean algebra there are just two digits, 0 and 1. When we have an AND operation for inputs A
and B, we can write:
A.B=Q where Q is the output. Thus Q is equal to 1 only when A =1 and B = 1.
The OR operation for inputs A and B is written as: A+B=Q
The NOT operation for an input A is written as:A=Q
DISADVANTAGES
Cost: Initial costs can be high for hardware and programming software, especially for smaller
applications.
Complexity: Programming and configuring PLCs can be complex, requiring specialized knowledge and
training.
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Limited Processing Power: While PLCs are robust for control tasks, they may not handle complex
calculations or large data processing as effectively as PCs.
Scalability Issues: Adding more I/O points or expanding functionality can be challenging and may
require new hardware.
Environmental Limitations: PLCs can be sensitive to extreme temperatures, humidity, and
electromagnetic interference, which may necessitate additional protective measures.
Debugging Challenges: Troubleshooting issues can be time-consuming, especially if the programming
is not well-documented.
Latency: Some PLCs may have latency issues in processing inputs and outputs, which can affect time-
sensitive applications.
RESPONSE TIME
The time taken between an input occurring and an output changing depends on such factors as the
electrical response time of the input circuit, the mechanical response of the output device, and the
scan time of the program.

A latch circuit is used to start and stop the power being applied to the machine
The machine has several outputs that can be turned on if the power has been turned on and are off
if the power is off.
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Ex.2 Rotate the vector v=5i+3j+8k by an angle of 900 about x-axis. The rotation transformation is
given by:

H= Rot(x,900) =

Ex.3 A vector v=3i+2j+7k is rotated by 600 about z-axis of the reference plane. It is then rotated by
300 about x-axis of the rotated frame. Find the rotation transformation.
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Ex.4 A vector v=2i+5j+3k is rotated by 600 about z –axis and translated by 3,4 and 5 units in x, y and z
directions respectively. Find the vector with reference to reference frame.
The homogenous transformation matrix is