Constructing a Robot Arm

Hi everybody

For my bachelors assignment for Industrial Design Engineering at the University of Twente, I looked at the construction of robotic arms. More specifically, I looked at the relation between components and their composition on desired performance and cost of pick&place robotic arms.

The paper is basically a large instruction set of information needed to build a robot arm, complete with reasoning to why certain design options are better than others.

To test all this information, I designed, build and programmed the robotic arm, and put it through some tests.
I attached my entire project, complete with solidworks&stl models of the arm.

For this paper I looked at
-how motors work
-comparison between stepper and servo motors
-which motor to choose when
-formulas for sizing the motor torque
-types of bearings
-what bearing is best suited for what condition
-formulas for bearing impact on accuracy
-possible power transmissions
-type of frame
-much more small stuff that is also important

Starting this project I didn't know the first thing about robotics, so don't be afraid to try. You will either build a succesful robot arm or learn a lot from the mistakes you made (or both in my case).

I hope this may help some of you in building your own robotic arms!
If you have any questions or remarks, feel free to post them below.