Design and simulation of robotic arm for a CNC lathe machine

Abstract

Automation is creating revolution in the present industrial sector, as it reduces manpower and time of production. Modern industries are heavily dependent on robots that have a wide range of applications such as material transfer, precision assembly, welding and machining. The need for industries utilize resources through maximizing profits, increased productivity and efficiency required. This project was addressing the problems that arise from repetitive manufacturing processes that require accuracy, precision, concentration from workers. Such process create boredom among workers leading to time wastage, material wastage, laziness making them unreliable. In repetitive manufacturing process with high human interaction; time wastage and laziness are the output consequences which can cost the industry heavily in terms of money and time. This leads to slow production and cost incurred in monitoring by supervisors. Boredom and lack of concentration make the workers more susceptible to accidents thus the company having more liability insurance cost. This project is intended to design and simulate a robotic arm for a CNC lathe turning machine to pick and place stack during material handling. The main purpose of the project was to design a robotic arm that can be automated in order to make production processes efficient and effective. The software that has been used in simulation is Matlab robotics toolbox and Solid Works motion study. The CAD prototype and drawings were designed using Solid Works Simulation Software. The project involved designing of parameters which are then used in modeling and simulation of the performance of a robotic arm. The robotic arm was designed for a maximum payload of 1kg with five degrees of freedom to accomplish accurately simple tasks, such as light material handling, to assist in industrial workforce. The robot arm is equipped with several servo motors which do links between arms and perform arm movements. The servo motors include encoder so that no controller was implemented. Having a robotic arm in a production process can be of great importance as witnessed in the justification. The robotic arm was designed to have a high stiffness to weight ratio and aluminum was selected as the material for CAD prototype used in simulation. The desired torques for all servo motor were generated and the kinematic model verified.