Development of Embedded Control for a Repetitive Pick and Placed Robotic Arm

Manual execution of tasks is usually strenuous and exhaustive, some tasks may be repetitive in nature such that it requires full concentration. Nowadays, the integration of robotics into commercial and industrial activities to perform repetitive, dangerous, and difficult is becoming a norm. This work focuses on the implementation of a robotic arm. The robotic arm was designed to have six degrees of freedom. The control circuit includes an embedded Atmega328P microcontroller interfaced with servomotors and other glue electronic components such as sensors and buttons. The system is structured and programmed to operate automatically, performing a repetitive routine. The rotation and orientation of the device were tuned by sending required pulse width modulation (PMW) signals to different servomotors, such that they rotate as desired. The system employs six potentiometers in varying the duty cycle generated by the microcontroller. The system is structured such that three servomotors manipulate the motion of the body, the shoulder, the arm elbow, and the base. Manipulations of the end effector were also carried out by another three servomotors, each one controlling the gripper pitch, the movement of gripper spin, and that of the gripper itself. The constructed robotic arm gives a good response when tested for repetitive picking of objects. A similar acceptable performance was repeated in the autonomous lifting and dropping of objects items.