Forward & Inverse Kinematics

Overview

Lynxmotion AL5D bench-top robotic arm

In this project, a 5-axis robotic system, the Al5D robotic arm was programmed to place 3 Lego-blocks in a “𝜋” configuration. The robotic arm was controlled using the SSC-32 servo controller. SSC-32 Sequencer is a software that helps control the robotic arm by allowing communications with the SSC-32 servo controller

Initially, MATLAB was employed to implement an Inverse Kinematic function which would determine joint angles for a given end-effector position and orientation. The end-effector position and orientations were the different configurations of the AL5D robotic arm for placing 3 Lego blocks in a “𝜋” configuration.

AL5D Robotic Arm 2-D Layout

The MATLAB script for Inverse Kinematics was used to determine the joint angles (shown above) for different positions and orientations of the robotic arm. These joint angles were then converted to motor encoder values. These motor encoder values were used in the SSC-32 Servo Sequencer software to control the robotic arm.

Robotic Arm Placing Block 1

Robotic Arm Placing Block 2

Robotic Arm Placing Block 3