Robust end effecter for the introduction to Robotics Laboratory robotic arms

In the MIT ci ss Introduction to Robotics, a two link robotic arm is used to learn about robots however, the arm is limited since its only function is movement. In order to create a more meaningful and useful experience for students in the class, an end effecter with position feedback is going to be design and created as a third link for the current arm. Once complete, it will add functionality to the robot, namely picking up objects, by providing students with hands-on experience accomplishing a fundamental human task with a robot. The end effecter is comprised of a gravity link with two finger grippers each having rotating compliant tips which will compress around the object selected for lifting. The gravity link will insure that the two fingers are always vertical and the rotation on the tips will allow the fingers to be in the correct orientation so they can grasp around an object and pick it up. This solution creates a more practical experience and provides increased learning tasks for students in Introduction to Robotics.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Romatoski, Rebecca R. (Rebecca Rose)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John J. Leonard.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36707

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36707