Design and development of a flexible robot arm

• Main Author: Seet, Kwang Jen
• Other Authors: Tegoeh Tjahjowidodo
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64101
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Soft robots are on the uptake nowadays to imitate the human movement as well as allow more accurate outcome for assembly processes. Hence, the report mainly describes the design of a flexible robotic arm with adjustable stiffness for inspection purposes under harsh environments or narrow paths using cable driven mechanism and the independent experiments to prove the functionality of the prototype in the aspect of stiffness and actuation. The design of the robotic arm is based on ball joint mechanism for two degrees of freedom, whereas the direction is determined by the exertion of varies forces on three tendon sheath mechanism connecting throughout the model. The first experiment is to test the stiffness of the prototype based on differing values of compressed air passing through a flexible tubing. The second experiment is done by measuring the angles of movement when various forces exerted on any of the three tendon sheath mechanisms. From the first experiment, the value of compressed air affected the stiffness of the model and it follows the Hooke’s Law rule. Some non-linearity might be attributable due to the effect of friction and sliding during the experiment. The second experiment clearly showed the movement limit of the prototype when different forces exerted on the tendon sheath mechanism. Both the stiffness and actuation experiments showed the positive result on the flexible robotic arm. However, further improvement is needed to allow more degrees of freedom and the strength to carry heavier loads for other purposes.