Simulation and Control of a Robotic Arm Using MATLAB, Simulink and TwinCAT

Abstract

It is challenging to develop robot applications without viewing the robot movement. Besides, it is tedious to establish motion paths and adjust controller parameters using the real robot if there is no simulation program available. To resolve the issues for a low-cost robot, we developed a system that integrated kinematics and motion control simulation using MATLAB and Simulink. The system can then be connected to a real robot by using TwinCAT to verify the simulation results. Case studies were conducted to demonstrate that the system worked well and can be applied to those robotic arms without simulators.