ME5643: Mechatronics Final Project
Monday December 17, 2012
Paul PhamduyCristiano Del Rosso
Michael Trumpis1
Motivation• Proverb: “Give a man a fish and you
feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”
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Motivation• If you teach a robot how to fish?
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Motivation• Advantages
– Reduced moisture during robot fish handling– Reduced risk of shock/electric damage to circuit of
robotic fish– Ability to swap robotic fish when low on batteries– Automated experimentation and data acquisition
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Motivation• Potential uses in the Dynamical Systems Laboratory
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Proposed solution• To create a automated robotic fish
handling system, we proposed a robotic arm with infrared sensors
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Mechanical Design• The robotic arm has two
degrees of freedom actuated by two servos
• The robotic arm has a roll jointfollowed pitch joint
• The end effector of the robotic arm is a net to catch the robotic fish
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Mechanical Design
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base
continuous rotation servo
standard servocounter weight
slots
holes for net
Electrical Design• A button is used to reset the position of
robotic arm with the net in the water• An infrared sensor is used to detect the
robotic fish through the water tank
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Electrical Design
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infrared emitter
infrared detector
Software Design• The pseudocode structure is:
– Wait for the reset button– Position arm with net in water tank– Wait for sensor to detect robotic fish– Raise arm and net – Turn the arm to the side
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Software Design
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Bill of Materials• From Basic Stamp kits
– Basic Stamp– Standard servo – Continuous rotation servo– Infrared LED– Infrared detector
• Parts not in Basic Stamp kits– Fish net– Fish tank– ASB 3D printed parts from Dimension– Lead counter weights– Robotic fish and remote control
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Implementation• Robotic arm prototype
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Robotic Arm Video
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Advantages/Disadvantages• Advantages
– Mechanically capable of catching robotic fish with a fish net
– Infrared LED and detector are feasible sensors for detection through water from preliminary testing
– The design prototype provides a quick and low cost method for automated experimentation with the robotic fish
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Advantages/Disadvantages• Disadvantages
– Mechanical design can be improved for better mobility (with greater degrees of freedom) and improved structurally
– Electrical circuits are currently not waterproofed and risk being damaged
– Infrared sensor is currently not integrated into the system
– Software programming is basic and can be improved to interact with video camera for data aquisition
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Future Work• Work on improved structural design of the robotic arm
and net• Integration into automated experimentation with
multiple robotic fish• Utilize automated robotic fish with live fish experiments
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