ECE 531: Introduction to Robotic

and Automation

Course Unit: 2
Course Status: Elective
 Course Content
• Introduction to Robotics, technology and
history of development of robots.
• Robot classifications and manipulation.
 Recommended Textbooks
• Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots
by Roland Illah R. and SIEGWART
NOURBAKHSH
 CLASSIFICATION OF ROBOTICS
• Basically, robotics can be classified into the
following:
– Robotic Manipulator
– Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMR)
– Legged Robots
– Underwater Robots and Flying Robots
– Robot Vision
– Artificial Intelligence
– Industrial Automation
Robotic Arms

• Robotic arms have

become useful and
economical tools in
manufacturing,
medicine, and other
industries.
 Wheeled Mobile Robots
• Wheeled mobile robots are used to perform
many tasks in industry and in the military
 Legged Robots
• Locomotion on the • The benefits that can be
ground can be realized obtained with a legged
with three different robot are:
basic mechanisms: – Better mobility
I. Slider, – Better stability on the
II. Liver, and platform
III. Wheel or track
– Better energy efficiency
– Smaller impact on the
ground
 Underwater Robots
• Camera-equipped underwater robots serve
many purposes including tracking of fish and
searching for sunken ships.
 Flying Robots
• Flying robots have been used effectively in
military maneuvers, and often mimic the
movements of insects.
 Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer
science and engineering that deals with
intelligent behaviour, learning, and adaptation in
machines.
• Research in AI is concerned with producing
machines to automate tasks requiring intelligent
behaviour.
• Examples include control, planning and
scheduling, the ability to answer diagnostic and
consumer questions, handwriting, speech, and
facial recognition.
• The goal of AI is providing solutions to real-life
problems, software applications, traditional
strategy games like computer chess, and other
video games.
 Artificial Intelligence cont’d….
• AI divides roughly into two schools of thought:
Conventional AI and Computational
Intelligence (CI).
– Conventional AI mostly involves methods now
classified as machine learning, characterized by
formalism and statistical analysis. This
conventional AI is further divided into:
• Expert systems
• Case-based reasoning.
• Bayesian networks.
• Behaviour-based AI: a modular method of building AI
systems by hand.
 Conventional AI
• Expert systems: apply reasoning capabilities
to reach a conclusion. An expert system can
process large amounts of known information
and provide conclusions based on them.
 Computational Intelligence AI
• Computational Intelligence involves iterative
development or learning (e.g., parameter tuning in
connectionist systems). Learning is based on empirical
data and is associated with non-symbolic AI, scruffy AI,
and soft computing. Methods mainly include:
• Neural networks: systems with very strong pattern
recognition capabilities.
• Fuzzy systems: techniques for reasoning under
uncertainty, have been widely used in modern
industrial and consumer product control systems.
• Evolutionary computation: applies biologically inspired
concepts such as populations, mutation, and survival of
the fittest to generate increasingly better solutions to
the problem. These methods most notably divide into
evolutionary algorithms (e.g., genetic algorithms) and
swarm intelligence (e.g., ant algorithms).
 Industrial Automation
• Automation, which in Greek means self-
dictated, is the use of control systems, such as
computers, to control industrial machinery
and processes, replacing human operators.
• Automation is a step beyond mechanization.
• Mechanization provided human operators
with machinery to assist them with the
physical requirements of work, automation
greatly reduces the need for human sensory
and mental requirements as well.
 BASIC MECHANICS
Things to cover
• Introduction to Theory of Machines and Mechanisms
• Some Popular Mechanisms
• Gear and Gear Trains
INTRODUCTION TO THEORY OF MACHINES AND MECHANISMS

• A mechanism is a device that transforms

motion to some desirable pattern and
typically develops very low forces and
transmits little power.
• A machine typically contains mechanisms that
are designed to provide significant forces and
transmit significant power.
• Some examples of typical mechanisms are a
stapler, a door lock, car window wiper, etc.
• Some examples of machines that possess
motions similar to the mechanisms above are
an automobile engine, a crane, and a robot.
• There is no clear line of difference between
mechanisms and machines.
• They differ in degree rather than definition.
• If a mechanism involves light forces and is run at slow speeds,
it can sometimes be strictly treated as a kinematic device;
that is, it can be analyzed kinematically without regard to
forces.
• Machines (and mechanisms running at higher speeds), on the
other hand, must be first treated as mechanisms.
• A kinematic analysis of their velocities and accelerations must
be done and then they must be treated as dynamic systems in
which their static and dynamic forces due to accelerations are
analyzed using the principles of kinetics.
• Most of the applications in robotics involve motions at lower
speeds and low or moderate forces are involved.
• In this course we will restrict our discussion only to the
kinematics of mechanisms
 SOME POPULAR MECHANISMS
• Below are the listed popular mechanisms:

–Four-bar Mechanism
–Slider-crank Mechanism
–Rack and Pinion
–Cams and Cranks
 Four-bar Mechanism
• In the range of planar mechanisms, the simplest group of
lower pair mechanisms is four-bar linkages.
• A four-bar linkage comprises four bar-shaped links and four
turning pairs as shown in Figure 2.1.
 Four-bar Mechanism Cont’d
• The link opposite the frame is called the coupler link.
• The links, which are hinged to the frame, are called
side links.
• A link, which is free to rotate through 360 degrees
with respect to a second link, will be said to revolve
relative to the second link (not necessarily a frame).
• If it is possible for all four bars to become
simultaneously aligned, such a state is called a
change point.
• Some important concepts in link mechanisms are:
 Four-bar Mechanism Cont’d
1. Crank: A side link, which revolves relative to the frame,
is called a crank.
2. Rocker: Any link that does not revolve is called a rocker.
3. Crank-rocker mechanism: In a four-bar linkage, if the
shorter side link revolves and the other one rocks (i.e.,
oscillates), it is called a crank-rocker mechanism.
4. Double-crank mechanism: In a four-bar linkage, if both
of the side links revolve, it is called a double-crank
mechanism.
5. Double-rocker mechanism: In a four-bar linkage, if
both of the side links rock, it is called a double-rocker
mechanism.
 Four-bar Mechanism Cont’d
• Basic nomenclature: In a four-bar linkage, the
line segment between hinges on a given link is
called bar where:
 s =length of the shortest bar.
 l =length of the longest bar.
 p, q =lengths of the intermediate bars.
• Grashof’s Theorem: states that a four-bar
mechanism has at least one revolving link if
sl  pq
• and all three mobile links will rock if
sl  pq
 Four-bar Mechanism Cont’d
• All four-bar mechanisms fall into one of the four categories listed in Table 2.1
 Four-bar Mechanism Cont’d
• From Table 2.1 we can see that for a mechanism to have a crank, the sum
of the length of its shortest and longest links must be less than or equal to
the sum of the length of the other two links. However, this condition is
necessary but not sufficient.
• Mechanisms satisfying this condition fall into the following three
categories:
1. When the shortest link is a side link, the mechanism is a crank-rocker
mechanism. The shortest link is the crank in the mechanism.
2. When the shortest link is the frame of the mechanism, the mechanism is
a double-crank mechanism.
3. When the shortest link is the coupler link, the mechanism is a double-
rocker mechanism.
 Slider-crank Mechanism
• The slider-crank mechanism, which has a well-
known application in engines, is a special case
of the crank-rocker mechanism.
 Slider-crank Mechanism
Inversion of the Slider-crank Mechanism
• Inversion is a term used in kinematics for a reversal or
interchange of form or function as applied to kinematic chains
and mechanisms.
• For example, taking a different link as the fixed link, the slider-
crank mechanism shown in Figure 2.3a can be inverted into
the mechanisms shown in Figures 2.3b, c, and d.

FIGURE 2.3 Inversions of the crank-slide mechanism.

 Slider-crank Mechanism
• For example, the mechanism of the pump device in Figure 2.4
is the same as that in Figure 2.3b.
• The inversion of a mechanism does not change the motions
of its links relative to each other but does change their
absolute motions.

FIGURE 2.4 A pump devic

 Rack and Pinion
• A ‘rack and pinion’ gears system looks quite unusual.
However, it is still composed of two gears. The ‘pinion’ is the
normal round gear and the ‘rack’ is straight or flat.
• The ‘rack’ has teeth cut in it and they mesh with the teeth of
the pinion gear.
 Cams and Cranks
• Both cams and cranks are useful when a repetitive motion is
desired. Cams make rotary motion a little more interesting by
essentially moving the axle off-center.
• Cams are often used in conjunction with a rod. One end of the rod
is held flush against the cam by a spring. As the cam rotates the
rod remains stationary until the “bump” of the cam pushes the
rod away from the cam’s axle.
• Cranks convert rotary motion into a piston-like linear motion. The
best examples of cranks in action are the drive mechanism for a
steam locomotive and the automobile engine crankshaft. In a
crank, the wheel rotates about a centered axle, while an arm is
attached to the wheel with an off-centered peg. This arm is
attached to a rod fi xed in a linear path. A crank will cause the rod
to move back and forth, and if the rod is pushed back and forth, it
will cause the crank to turn.
 BASIC ELECTRONICS
We shall cover:
• Introduction to Electronics
• Some Basic Elements
• Steps to Design and Create a Project
• Sensor Design
• Using the Parallel Port of the Computer
• Serial Communication: RS-232
• Using the Microcontroller
• Actuators