Development and Analysis of Robotic Arms for Humanoid Melo

Abstract

A robotic arm is one of the most sophisticated components of a humanoid, due to its complexity in multi-degree-of-freedom actuation and sensing, size and weight constraints, and requirement for object manipulation. This paper talks about the design, development, and verification of a low-cost, light-weight robotic manipulator that can achieve anthropomorphic movements. The 5 degree-of-freedom robotic arm has a fully extended length of 31 – inches and weight of 7 - pounds. The joints of the arm were fabricated using mainly 3D printed parts using Polylactic Acid and Nylon and linked with carbon fiber tubing. The arm is actuated by 2 servo motors at the distal joint and 3 brushless DC motors at the proximal joints. All joints of the arm perform at zero backlash through harmonic gear boxes, which are also assembled mainly from 3D printed parts. The robotic arm has demonstrated a comparable performance to similar robotic arms on the market with significantly reduced cost.