Control of robotic arm for Mars rover analogue

Abstract

This article aims to design control algorithm of the robotic arm in Mars rover analogue. The robot is remotely controlled and has an autonomous mode, so steering must be precise and intuitive for the operator. The rover operates in similar conditions to Martian in a simulated environment at Mars Desert Research Station Utah in the United States. The article describes control of 6 degrees of freedom robotic arm. The equations of forward kinematics, inverse kinematics and linear motion interpolation, as well as gripper rotation, are derived. Algorithms are written in MATLAB language in such a way that it can be easily adapted into C language and implemented on STM32F7 microcontroller. The first stage is the determination of DH parameters and transformation matrix for simple kinematics. Then, the inverse kinematics equation was determined using the geometric, analytic method. The next step is to write motion interpolation algorithms. In the end, a simulation of manipulator movement made of real components was carried out, taking into account the parameters of motors, gears and joints. Based on the results of the simulation, the maximum velocity of the robotic arm movement was determined. It also helped to create the most natural control scenario for the rover's operator.