Joystick Controlled Warfield Robotic Arm Vehicle

At the end of this project, we hope to develop a joystick controlled precision robotic arm vehicle with an accurate  camera system with minimum delay. To achieve all this we are using servo motors to develop a robotic arm. Arduino Mega is the microcontroller chip, we are using to control the ro

Project Title

Joystick Controlled Warfield Robotic Arm Vehicle

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

At the end of this project, we hope to develop a joystick controlled precision robotic arm vehicle with an accurate  camera system with minimum delay. To achieve all this we are using servo motors to develop a robotic arm. Arduino Mega is the microcontroller chip, we are using to control the robotic arm with joystick controller module. The arm will be connected to the vehicle to be be controlled from a fair distance in order to perform tasks where there is danger to human life such as warfield bomb disposal or providing food and medicine to COVID-19 patients. The robotice arm vehicle will also feature a remotely controlled camera system. It will have a separate video and image processor of its own, so there is no lag at all in video acquisition even from a distance at which the robotic arm vehicle can move around. The accurate and real-time video feed without lag will certainly help the cause that this project is aiming at. The whole system linked together will work precisely in the radius of 300 meters and can function upto 500 meters. The reason is simple, it can go to places where there is risk involved to human life and perform the necessary task from joystick remote controller and live video feed will help the controller to move in the required direction. The arm in the project is multi-purpose. Different parts can be connected at the end of the arm to perform certain tasks. In case of bomb disposal, the cutter will be connected to the arm to deal with wires. In case something has to be picked up from the ground, the gripper will be used. We have to accept that in these COVID times, it's very risky for our health workers to go near COVID patients. Currently in Pakistan, precision robotics arms are not in widespread use. One reason of which is the lack of home-grown solutions. This motivates us to work on a remotely controlled precision robotic arm which has wide variety of applications.

To think of such robots being a significant part in our daily lives still seems like a distant future. Just as smartphones are necessity of the current life standards, which 10 to 15 years ago didn't even exist. In the similar way, robotic arm vehicles can play a major role in our daily lives 10 years from now . Ignite is a wonderful opportunity for the hardworking students to fund their final year projects. It certainly encourages us to think beyond the limitations of not affording to build a project based on our full potential.

Project Objectives

Main objectives of the project are to design hardware and software for Remotely controlled Joystick based Precision Robotic Arm Vehicle, implementing the pick and place system operation and also testing the robot that meets the criteria and purpose of the project.

A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing rotational motion and its movement is analogous to the human hand. Robotic arm can be designed to perform any desired task such as welding, gripping, spinning etc., depending on the application. The robot arms can be autonomous or controlled manually and can be used to perform a variety of tasks with great accuracy. The robotic arm can be fixed or mobile (i.e. wheeled) and can be designed for industrial or home application.

In Remotely controlled Joystick based Precision Robotic Arm Vehicle, the hardware and software function are combined to make the system reliable. The Arduino Mega will be the interfacing for the robot and the vehicle and Arduino uno will be interfacing of the joystick controller, wireless joystick controller will be used to control the movement of the robot and the vehicle.

Our main focus is to design an arm which is precise in movement, accurate, and easy to control and user friendly. This robot is expected to overcome the problem such as placing or picking object that away from the user, pick and place hazardous object in the fastest and easiest way.

Project Implementation Method

A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing rotational motion and its movement is analogous to the human hand. Robotic arm can be designed to perform any desired task such as welding, gripping, spinning etc. Our main focus is to design an arm which is precise in movement, accurate, and easy to control and user friendly.

Our project implementation consists of carrying out the activities with the aim of delivering the outputs.

There are multiple activities that are to be followed:

Designing of flexible and strong robotic arm with 5 degree of freedom (5-DOF).

Robotic arm design will consist of multiple servo motors connected together with the help of metallic servo mounts to make arm more powerful, so that it can lift heaver load and do multifunction operation. Designed arm will have 5-DOF freedom means it can be able to move from five different points which makes it much more flexible and stronger to perform multiple tasks

Designing of 4-wheel drive(4WD) Robotic vehicle for robotic arm.

we are designing a 4WD vehicle with four motors and to connect all these motors in one place we are going to use acrylic body for the vehicle because it is strong and light weight.  vehicle movement, we are going to use Arduino uno instead of Raspberry-PI because it is cheap and can perform many tasks and can easily control vehicle movement and will reduce the overall cost of the system.

Install camera and to improve the quality of real time video acquisition.

In order to design a camera system without any delay we are going to use ESP 32 Cam instead of Raspberry Pi Cam because it is way cheaper than the raspberry pi cam. We are designing a camera system based on 2.4GHz WIFI connection which makes it more responsive and efficient in power usage instead of using GSM connection.

Designing of 2.4GHz WIFI based Robotic Arm and vehicle joystick controller.

Now the most important part of the project is to design a remote joystick controller to control both arm and the vehicle over a distance of about 500m in Line-of-Sight communication. In order to achieve this, we are going to use Arduino UNO and Arduino joystick modules to control both arm and the vehicle instead of using Bluetooth 4.2 based smartphone app control.

Benefits of the Project

Robot arms are ideal for operations which are repetitive, consistent and require a very high degree of accuracy, as well as for applications in which a human worker might struggle to perform safely.

Robotic arms are fast, accurate and reliable, and can collectively be programmed to perform an almost infinite range of different operations. The dramatic reduction in buy-in costs for industrial robotic arms over the past decade has seen them rise to far more widespread use today than ever before. robotic arms are now commonly found across a broad range of industries and other sectors.

Precision and accuracy

One of the main advantages of a collaborative robotic arm in the factory is that they are highly precise and accurate. Robot’s work exactly how they are programed to without any deviation. This then leads to improved quality of the products produced from the company and a reduction in defective products which also leads to a reduction in cost of materials.

Fast and efficient

Speed and efficiency are the main competitive advantage that robots bring to any field. Robots are fast and are highly efficient in carrying out their tasks. They are accurate and precise; they can perform multiple tasks.

Higher quality

Due to their high accuracy levels, robots can also be used to produce higher quality products which adhere to certain standards of quality, and also reducing the time needed for quality control.

Improved working environment

Robotic arms are often used for performing tasks which are deemed as dangerous for humans, as well as being able to perform highly laborious and repetitive tasks. Overall, by using robotic arms you can improve the working conditions and safety. Robots don’t get tired and nor they can make dangerous mistakes or can suffer from repetitive strain injury.

Longer working hours

Typically, people have to have breaks, get distracted and after time attention drops and pace slows. With a robotic arm it can work 24/7, and keeps running at 100%.

Robotic arms in warfare’s

 Robotic Arms can be sent into places where, humans can’t go to such as nuclear waste areas or in extremely hot or cold places, robotic arms can be upgraded instead of being trained.

Cost Effectiveness

There will be no lunchbreaks, holidays, sick leave or shift time allocated for robotic automation. It can be set to work on a repetitive cycle, as long as it is maintained correctly, it will continue to work until the end.

Industrial Robotic arms can be allocated numerous tasks

Modern robotic arms are not only used in factories but also in other industries. They are increasingly being adopted in the healthcare, agriculture and military complex industries.

In the factory, in addition to pick and place tasks, robotic arms can be fitted with special externalities that enable them complete tasks such as welding, polishing and can be used for sorting and quality checks on manufactured products.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Our Final year project is titled as Remotely controlled Joystick based Precision Robotic Arm vehicle, In this we are designing a user programmable robotic arm vehicle with a real time video acquisition, which can be programmed according to the different tasks it has to perform in different conditions and the 4WD robotic vehicle will be used to move arm from one place to another place. It can be controlled from a large distance up to 500 meters in line-of-sight communication. It can perform large number of repeatable motions with a great continuous movement according to the different tasks.

This project will also benefit medical tasks it can be used to maintain the social distance between patient and the doctor by taking care of a COVID patients with their basic medical needs such as medicine without going near them, eliminating the risk of being exposed to the virus. There are several goals to be achieved in this project.

• Strong and Flexible 5-DOF Robotic arm with accurate movement for precision tasks.

• Robotic vehicle design to move robotic arm from one place to another.

• WIFI based real time video acquisition camera system with very low amount of delay to perform precision tasks.

• 2.4GHz Joystick remote controller to control Robotic arm and the vehicle with range up to 500 meters.

To achieve all these milestones, robotic arm has to be strong and flexible, so we will use MG996R high torque servos operating at 5V and we will use servo mounts to combine MG996R multiple servos to make arm stronger and flexible, which can be able to move from five different points and it can produce torque high enough to lift and move weight up to 400g.

To perform precision task without human eye, can be a very difficult task to perform and that’s why we are designing a 2.4GHz WIFI based camera system with zero delay, in this we will be using ESP32 Cam Module for live video transmission so that arm can easily be controlled and will be able to perform precision tasks wirelessly.

 Robotic arm and the vehicle have to be accurate in movement and to achieve this we are going to use Arduino joystick modules to control the robotic arm and the vehicle, we are using joystick modules because with the help of joystick, we can easily control and handle arm’s movement as compared to smartphone control.

In order to increase the range of transmitter we will use NRF24L01 Wireless modules with external 2.4GHz antenna to control both robotic arm and the vehicle over a long distance up to 500 meters.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Telecommunication

Other Industries

Education

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com