Performance enhancement of a mobile robot using a competition as benchmark

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Publications

Programming Mobile Robots in an Educational Context: a Hardware-in-the-loop Approach

Publication . Brancalião, Laiany Suganuma; Alvarez, Mariano Jose; Coelho, João Paulo; Conde, Miguel Ángel; Costa, Paulo Gomes da; Gonçalves, José

In this paper it is presented a Hardware-in-theloop (HIL) mobile robot programming approach, to be applied in a robotics educational context. The motivation to apply this approach is the fact that students can program the robots without access to the robot hardware, but still maintain some important closed loop control critical features, such as a realistic lag time and the possibility for a larger number of students to program at the same time. Therefore, the developed software is applied to the real hardware without any change. The HIL approach was applied to provide a simulation close to reality, once the processing occurs in the real robot processor and the actuation and sensorization inside the simulation, adding to the advantage to test the firmware avoiding damage in the physical robot.

2024Conference object

Open access

Prototyping and Control of an Educational Manipulator Robot

Publication . Coelho, João Paulo; Brancalião, Laiany Suganuma; Alvarez, Mariano Jose; Costa, Paulo Gomes da; Gonçalves, José

This article presents the prototyping of an educational manipulator robot, based on the “EEZYbotARM Mk2” robot, tailored for first-year master’s students in the field of robotics. The project encompasses the assembly of the robot arm, computation of both forward and inverse kinematics, and analysis of two path-planning movement algorithms. These features are consolidated into an Arduino library to streamline the process for students to generate instructions for the robot. The “EEZYbotARM Mk2” features a three-degree-of-freedom revolute arm with a gripper that remains parallel to its base at all times, enhancing its suitability for educational applications such as pick-and-place tasks. The article provides detailed descriptions of the materials and methods employed, along with proposed challenges for student engagement.

2024Conference object

Open access