Page 17 - Annual Report_AMTDC-2018-19new

AMTDC 2018 - 2019

6. Development of Low-Cost Machine Tending Robot

AMTDC (IIT-Madras) team: Harikrishna Makaram, R. Vairamuthu, R. Srikanth,
N. Ramesh Babu

Industry Partner: MTAB Engineers, Chennai

Project Highlights

AMTDC-Centre of Excellence has timely conceptualized the in-house development of
low-cost machine tending robots suitable for the Indian manufacturing industries. The design
of 6-axis articulated robots of two variants of 6 kg and 10 Kg payloads are made successfully,
with the help of detailed analysis of the static and dynamic behavior of the structure. The
influence of link length on the work volume of the manipulator has been studied in detail and
optimized. Based on this optimized link length, the torque requirements are estimated. The

robot-design is finalized by the iterative fine tuning of controlling parameters to achieve the
desired accuracies. After the development of 3D model, the selection of drive system is
initiated by estimating the drive torques required at each link of the robot. Depending on the
torque estimated, motors and torque multipliers/ gear boxes have been finalized. A frugal
approach is adopted in the selection of drive systems to maintain a low cost of the system,
without compromising the safety factor of design. The robot can be mounted on the floor, or
at an angle, and can perform a variety of applications ranging from machine tending, material
handling, assembly to picking and packaging. In the 10kg robot, while considering the choice of
torque multipliers, an attempt has been made to build a gear box with conventional gear trains
to develop an alternative for the pre-assembled torque multipliers. The six articulated axes are
driven by electric servo drives that allow optimized programming of the operation. Flexibility is
maximized through a wider work area and larger reach. The robotic arm having a modular
construction and standard-rich feature is capable of bringing high speed to the production line.
The robot being developed indigenously will be available at around 20-30% lower cost than
similar imported products.

Current Status

The prototypes for the 6kg and 10 Kg payload robots has been successfully built. The
testing of various functional parameters for the 6 Kg robot is completed. The testing and
characterization of the 10 Kg payload robot is awaited. The prototype was exhibited at IMTEX
2019 held in Bangalore.

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