A complete FREE tutorial on :
Developing a SCARA type Two Link Robotic Arm Model to play TicTacToe

Using: Arduino Duemilanove/UNO Board with Atmega328P Microcontroller
        : AVR-Studio, Avrdude
        : Servo Motors, Web Camera, Electromagnetic Gripper

Ultra Low Cost Design
(Click the image to enlarge)
Main Parts Manual Control Arduino and Shield


Introduction

After developing a typical Line following robot, the engineering students/hobbyists doesn't have a good robotics idea which fits in their budgets and can be practically realized.

An idea good enough to motivate the students for core-programming. Often the robotics hardware is mechanically and electronically complex and computer science students can't get a good hold on it. So, how will they learn robotics programming, without Robot Hardware ?

All the fascinating keywords like Machine vision, Image Acquisition & Processing, Game Strategy Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Graphic Simulation, Joystick Robot Trainer, Computer Interfacing, Robot Co-ordinate System, Inverse Kinematics, Synthesized Speech and so on, makes them think "If I had a robot, I could have tried these".

All the key-words mentioned in the above paragraph, can be used in expressing this Ultra Low Cost Robotic Arm's personality. Yet it costs less than INR3,500/- (See Bill Of Material BOM ).

Definitions

Salient Features of this Project

  1. Open-source Arduino board with AVR Atmega 328P micro-controller
  2. Uses C-language and MATLAB® Programming
  3. Tools WinAVR™ (pronounced "whenever"), Avrdude and AVRStudio are used
  4. The robot works in two modes: Autonomous and Manual
  5. The user can control the Robotic ARM with Rotatory Knobs in Manual Mode
  6. Manual Mode can be used to calibrate: Computed values versus Practical values
  7. Simulation and Animation is done using MATLAB® graphics
  8. The complete tutorial is provided, with working code examples.
  9. This project is good for intermediate to advanced level developers/students.
  10. Ultra Low Cost robotics hardware to experiment with
  11. Uses very few electronics components on the Arduino Shield
  12. Can be programmed to play multiple Board Games at the same time
  13. It is a generalized model: Provision for future expansion
  14. Uses Servo Motors so no motor driver ICs
  15. Optionally : Raspberry Pi and OpenCV can be used instead of Laptop, Arduino and MATLAB®

e-Book Chapters

COMING SOON (by mid-of-Sept-2013)
(Please click on chapter number to display its contents)

Part-I:    Introduction to the Two Link Robotic Arm Model
             Chapter 1    Mechanical Hardware Development

Part-II:   MATLAB® Programming Tutorials: Robot Control and Mathematics
             Chapter 2    Basics of Animation and Forward Kinematics
             Chapter 3    Work Envelope Basics
             Chapter 4    Reachability Test
             Chapter 5    Optimizing the Link Length Ratio
             Chapter 6    Tolerances in Floating-Point Computations
             Chapter 7    Inverse Kinematics
             Chapter 8    Communicating with the serial port

Part-III: Microcontrollor Programming
            Chapter 9   Communicating with the serial port
            Chapter 10   Controlling Servo Motor: Basics
            Chapter 11   Controlling Servo Motor: Advanced
            Chapter 12   The Complete CIRCUIT diagram of the Arduino Shield
            Chapter 13   Developing a Robot Control Protocol: The TLRAM2 Protocol
            Chapter 14   Controlling Robot in Manual Mode: Analog Input from Potentiometers

Part-IV:  MATLAB® Programming Tutorials: Robot Vision
            Chapter 15   Calibration Tools and use of Look-up Table for fast calculations
            Chapter 16   Basics of Image Acquisition
            Chapter 17   Image Processing
            Chapter 18   Making the robot speak: Playing the sound files

Part-V:   Notes/Appendix
            Chapter 19   Notes: Interfacing Considerations
            Chapter 20   Notes: About TLRAM Version-1
            Chapter 21   Notes: About TLRAM Version-2 HANDMADE PROTOTYPE
            Chapter 21   Notes: About TLRAM Version-3 Kit-Kat Robo-Kit
            Chapter 22   Notes: Using Raspberry Pi and OpenCV instead of Laptop, Arduino and MATLAB® 


The TLRAM2 in action:

Work Envelope