Low-Cost Robot Arms for the Robotic Operating System (ROS) and MoveIt

Abstract

William Lehman is President of Bill's Robotic Solutions which he started in July of 2013. He has had over twenty years of experience in software and hardware development. He has worked on numerous projects in digital communication systems, robotics, and aerospace applications. Mr. Lehman received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1979 from Catholic University of America. LOW COST ROBOT ARMS FOR THE ROBOTIC OPERATING SYSTEM (ROS) AND MOVEITIt is not uncommon for students in high school and college to design and build low cost robot arms. This paper summarizes the results of an undergraduate assignment to design and build a low cost robot arm, as well as a robot arm controller. The robot arm controller uses accelerometers to control the motion of the robot arm. The robot arm controller can also be used to record and playback a sequence of motions for the arm. The robot arm controller was Arduino Uno Micro-controller based to keep costs down. A serial interface was also implemented for the arm controller so the arm could be controlled from a PC. The students had a mentor from industry to guide them in the design of their robot arm and controller. The mentor also evaluated the robot arm and similar designs for use with the Robotic Operating System (ROS) and Moveit software, for possible use of Moveit on future student projects.ROS and Moveit bring interesting functions for control of robot arms. The Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL) is used by the Moveit, providing a variety of motion planning algorithms to control the students arm. A 3D Camera can be directly used by Moveit to provide obstacle avoidance functions for the robot arm. The results of the evaluation of Moveit were shown to the students in a video as well as the other results of the evaluation giving them insight into how an embedded sub-system they developed can interact as part of a complex system.

Wireless hand motion controlled robotic arm using flex sensors

“…The definition of this robot arm is a 5 degree of freedom (5DOF) since the joint is on the shoulder, the base is also available, the wrist, an elbow, and the slider are available. This project use resistance value from the bend of the flex sensor to ensure the movement of the robotic arm to move accordingly [13], [18]. The NRF24L01 module on this project is used to communicate and transmit data rate up to 2 Mbps using an ultra-low power application.…”

Multi-Lab-Driven Learning Method Used for Robotics ROS System Development

“…Some components in robotics such as localization, navigation, mapping, and image processing were taught by using the ROS platform. In order to assist students in understanding how the ROS system works, Yousuf, et al [12] developed pedagogy to teach students robot arms through projects and hands-on experience. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy offers track concentration on the Robotics and Mechatronics.…”

Development of a MATLAB/ROS Interface to a Low-cost Robot Arm

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