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Robotic Arm

BCCN Robotic Arm alt text

The Team

Jose Luis Reategui Rico Kanthatham, Skylabworkshop, Japan

The Challenge

  • The Robot Arm was assembled...but not functional
  • The system wiring very confusing & unlabeled
  • Electrical connections needed improvement to allow for more electrical power and signal stability alt text

The Plan

  • Full disassembly and rebuild of the Robot Arm alt text
  • Systematic testing of all stepper motors and stepper motor drivers
  • Improve and organize wiring system > reduce number of wires...label, twist (reduce electromagnetic radiation) and organize them
  • Understand and apply current and microstepping control on the 2 variants of the TB6560 Stepper Motor Driver and 3 variants of Stepper motors (NEMA14, NEMA17, NEMA23) alt text

The Work

The rebuild took place over 4 sessions. Disassembly of the Robot Arm and testing of the components revealed...

  • Some non-functional motor driver boards discovered when powered and tested with a multi-meter...replacements were fortunately available
  • Incorrect current and microstepping settings for some motors...stepper motor specific datasheets needed to be downloaded
  • Each stepper motor was individually tested and discovered to be functional...number label were assigned to each
  • Challenging installation of timing belts onto 3D printed stepper motor spindle attachment...no solution found
  • Existing stepper motor driver frame is poorly designed and makes board installation and wire attachment difficult...we found and printed a new and improved board frame
  • Existing wiring connections were just raw wire strands...we improved wire ends for connections with solder and paddle connectors
  • Many individual GND wires from motor drivers were replaced...by serially connecting GND wires from one motor driver to the next

The Results

  • Robot arm assembled...much neater and more organized...and functional!
  • The current control software is rudimentary however...not able to control robot arm motion to be fluid and elegant

Next Steps..

  • Integrate with linux based ROS control system
  • Add PID code to smooth arm motion?

Images

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