Design and Development of Mecanum Wheel Based Multifunctional Robot

Abstract

Taking into account the growth of engineering in the field of robotics and automation in the past few decades, it is of prime importance to devise a robot that is preferably small in size with the capability of performing multiple functions. It should be noted that the miniature version of an industrial robot does not have to compromise with respect to the functions it performs. As space is being more of a constraint with each passing day, here, a Jointed Arm Configuration Robot is placed on a base with mecanum wheels. The integration of these two subsystems in a robot paves way for many applications. In this paper, we have focused on two of its applications. The current trend to control most robots is by a remote. When the following method is used, simplicity is one aspect that has to be compromised upon and a skilled labour is needed to control the robot efficiently. So, we’ve implemented a method to control the robot with the help of the human arm which doesn’t require one to have sophisticated skills. The utilization of mecanum wheels has given the robot base 3 degrees of freedom, which is one more than the present robots utilized economically. The arm, independently having 4 degrees of freedom, consolidates with the base, expands its degrees of freedom to 6. The robot arm used here has the functionality to mimic the human arm up to a certain extent. In this paper, there is a detailed analysis on the working of out prototype.