Summer 2006 REU
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Machine Intelligence Lab,
Mechanical Aerospace Engineering Building B
Gainesville , FL.
Program Directors: Dr. A. Antonio Arroyo & Dr. Eric M. Schwartz
Robot’s Name: #5
Designed by: Anis Manshad
# 5’s Objective: The robot will be designed to sense any object that is within its
grasping range, it will then try to grab it without crushing the object, and
this will be implemented with the help of force sensors and servos. After the
robot has grasped the object, a reading of the temperature will then initiate
and results will be displayed on the LCD.
How #5 operates:
Inside #5:
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Board: MAVRIC-IIB
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Language: C
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Sensors: Temperature sensor, IR sensor, and a Force sensor.
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Sensors will all most likely be placed in the palm of the hand.
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Actuation: 6 Servos, one on each of the four fingers, and 2 on the
thumb.
About the Sensors:
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The force sensor: “The FlexiForce
single element force sensor acts as a force sensing resistor in an electrical
circuit. When the force sensor is unloaded, its resistance is very high. When a
force is applied to the sensor, this resistance decreases. The resistance can
be read by connecting a multimeter to the outer two
pins, then applying a force to the sensing area.”
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The IR sensor: “Infrared proximity sensor made by Sharp. Part #
GP2Y0A21YK has an analog output that varies from 3.1V at 10cm to 0.4V at 80cm.
The sensor has a Japanese Solderless Terminal (JST)
Connector. We recommend soldering wires directly to the back of the module and
installing the header of your preference.”
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The Temperature sensor: “One-Wire Digital temperature sensor.
Reports degrees C with 9 bit precision. Each sensor has a unique 64-Bit Serial
number etched into it - allows for a huge number of sensors to be used on one
data bus. This is a wonderful part that is the corner stone of many
data-logging and temperature control projects.”
Sensors’ application in #5:
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Force sensors will work together with the servos, when applying
the right amount of force to the object to be held, the force sensors will tell
the servos when to stop squeezing the object.
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The IR sensors, will work together with the servos, in the sense
it will tell the hand when to open up, telling it that there is something in
front of it, and it is time to get ready to grab the object.
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The temperature sensors are there just to tell the temperature of
the object that is within the grasp of the hand.
Bibliography:
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1. http://www.tekscan.com/flexiforce/flexiforce.html
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2. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=242
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3. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=245