Design of a Pick and Place Serial Manipulator

Repetitive tasks and high accuracy have become the two contradictory needs of any industrial process. By introducing autonomous robotic applications, simple repetitive tasks can be accomplished keeping the demands of the accuracy and speed in mind which will result in optimum utilization of the machine and manpower. However, developing these applications for industries specific to countries like Nigeria, where cheap labour is available, becomes a major problem to be tackled in terms of cost. This project deals with the design, fabrication and control of a 3 degrees of freedom serial manipulator used to pick and place ferromagnetic metals from one place to another. The serial manipulator mechanism was designed using a direct drive mechanism. The links of the arm were designed using Blender CAD software and fabricated using 3D printing technology. Two servo motors control the motion of the arm while another one controls the rotation of the base. Robot motion is controlled using three knobs switch and a toggle switch for the electromagnetic end effector. The motor control is achieved using a microcontroller. The electromagnetic end effector can be moved in a workspace which is in a hemisphere of 40cm. The serial manipulator was able to carry a payload of 15 N with relative ease.