Controlling a Robotic Arm manipulator with a PLC

摘要

ABSTRACT
\n
\nThis thesis was commissioned for HAMK University of Applied Sciences with the aim of designing a control system for a robotic arm. The Robotic Arm in this case was from HAMK’s Laboratory for Automation, Riihimäki which was designed by Nicolas Mustaka (an exchange student from Greece, 2009). 
\n
\nThe main objective of this thesis was to design a control system for the Robotic Arm using a programmable logic controller (PLC) and to construct a gripper. The control system design consisted of the installation of the electronic components (the PLC, a motor controller, a voltage regulator, a control pendent and a bride board circuit).
\n
\nThe pre-existing Robotic Arm was designed to work manually using potentiometers and a replacement was made with a PLC. At the beginning, studies were carried out to define the design constraints for finding the best options among components that are most suitable for this application. A control system designed with a PLC needs additional electronic components, such as a DC motor controller and control pendent. The parts selected were those that met specifications and designed requirements. The majority of the time was spent on wiring and installation. During the installation, consideration was made for a safe and effective design. In this project, the design and construction of the gripper was not completed as planned at the beginning, only the research and theoretical design approach was made. After the complete installation of all the hardware sections, the programming was the last to be completed. The principles for manual modes of operation and automatic modes of operation were described in detail in the programming part of this thesis. 
\n
\nAll the parts of the control system; i.e. the hardware part and the programming part were accomplished with a successful demonstration. 
\n
\nThe complex programming was possible in the PLC for the automatic mode of operation. It was found that a Robotic Arm with a simple mechanism can be manipulated in a different complex way by using a PLC.