ME5643: Mechatronics Final Project

Monday December 17, 2012

Paul PhamduyCristiano Del Rosso

Michael Trumpis1

Motivation• Proverb: “Give a man a fish and you

feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

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Motivation• If you teach a robot how to fish?

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Motivation• Advantages

– Reduced moisture during robot fish handling– Reduced risk of shock/electric damage to circuit of

robotic fish– Ability to swap robotic fish when low on batteries– Automated experimentation and data acquisition

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Motivation• Potential uses in the Dynamical Systems Laboratory

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Proposed solution• To create a automated robotic fish

handling system, we proposed a robotic arm with infrared sensors

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Mechanical Design• The robotic arm has two

degrees of freedom actuated by two servos

• The robotic arm has a roll jointfollowed pitch joint

• The end effector of the robotic arm is a net to catch the robotic fish

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Mechanical Design

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base

continuous rotation servo

standard servocounter weight

slots

holes for net

Electrical Design• A button is used to reset the position of

robotic arm with the net in the water• An infrared sensor is used to detect the

robotic fish through the water tank

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Electrical Design

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infrared emitter

infrared detector

Software Design• The pseudocode structure is:

– Wait for the reset button– Position arm with net in water tank– Wait for sensor to detect robotic fish– Raise arm and net – Turn the arm to the side

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Software Design

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Bill of Materials• From Basic Stamp kits

– Basic Stamp– Standard servo – Continuous rotation servo– Infrared LED– Infrared detector

• Parts not in Basic Stamp kits– Fish net– Fish tank– ASB 3D printed parts from Dimension– Lead counter weights– Robotic fish and remote control

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Implementation• Robotic arm prototype

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Robotic Arm Video

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Advantages/Disadvantages• Advantages

– Mechanically capable of catching robotic fish with a fish net

– Infrared LED and detector are feasible sensors for detection through water from preliminary testing

– The design prototype provides a quick and low cost method for automated experimentation with the robotic fish

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Advantages/Disadvantages• Disadvantages

– Mechanical design can be improved for better mobility (with greater degrees of freedom) and improved structurally

– Electrical circuits are currently not waterproofed and risk being damaged

– Infrared sensor is currently not integrated into the system

– Software programming is basic and can be improved to interact with video camera for data aquisition

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Future Work• Work on improved structural design of the robotic arm

and net• Integration into automated experimentation with

multiple robotic fish• Utilize automated robotic fish with live fish experiments

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