Introduction to Robotics

WELCOME EVERYBODY

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What is “Robot” ?

Let’s Google it

admin : OK Bot, show us what can you do …

bot : I can …

• Learn Skills ranging from electronics, mechanics, controls, programming, etc …
• Work in Industry assembly lines, like a robotic arm used for car-painting, parts assembling, etc…

Contd…

• Function as a mobile robot such as terrestial, aerial, aquatic or hybrid vehicle be it manually controlled or autonomous.

• Work in swarms to co-ordinate a task

So, what will you learn today ?

How about some robotics ?
Well, we guess you already knew that :)

• First we’ll talk about Manual Robotics, the ones controlled by human (yup, that’s you)

• Then, we’ll move on to autonomous bots, the ones which can perform simple tasks on their own. ( Remember Wall-E ? )

• If time permits, we’ll talk about robots with “eyes” (err.. cameras).

Mechanical Construction

• Chassis, i.e. the basic body structure (generally rectangular)

  • Preferred Material : Flex Board (25 cm x 25 cm)

  • Others : Motor Clamps
    

Wheels

• Normal Wheels , the ones you see in cars … toy cars.
  

• Castor Wheels , a non-drivable wheel that is mounted at the bottom of a vehicle (or robot, in our case), that can move in any direction. You can find them under the ( legs of ) movable tables.
  

DC Motors (contd.)

• Types (contd.)
  • Servo Motors
    • Pros:
      • Used for high torque operations
    • Cons:
      • Costly

Motion Direction Control

• H-Bridge Circuit
  • Simple electrical circuit using which you can change the polarity at the load.

• Example:
  • DPDT Switch:
    Switching device that uses H-Bridge principle to change the polarity of load and hence the motion of the motor whenever needed.

Drives

• Types of drive we’ll be using:
  • 2 wheel drive, 2 gearbox with castor wheel
  • 4 wheel drive, 4 gearbox
• Others
  • N Wheel Drive
  • Tank Wheel Drive

2 wheel drive with castor wheel

It has

• 2 active wheels with gearboxes
• 1 castor wheel for balance and free movement

4 wheel drive with 4 gearboxes

It has 4 wheels connected with 4 gearboxes for fast and agile movement

Locomotion using Differential Drive system

bot: I wanna move…
admin: How?
bot: Well now that you have asked so nicely…

• Differential Drive is one way to accomplish this
  
• The simplest motions (shown above) occur when all of the wheels are moving
• Different motions are also possible if we keep one/many wheels static

SHOW TIME

We’re pretty sure that you are bored to hell.
So, here’s a little treat for you.

Sit back and enjoy :D

Question time

Now, Throw something at us

Just dont throw an error :P