Aurel Gontean

Creating a programming language for the AL5 type robotic arms

This paper presents all the steps involved in the development of a new and friendly programming language for the AL5 type robotic arm. The AL5 can be controlled via the RS-232 serial port using SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) commands, but this method can control one motor at a time. The robotic arm has 5 + 1 motors; the last motor is an optional motor used to rotate the gripper. Motor sequential control is not the best option, so a method is necessary. Our idea was to teach the robotic arm by moving it in a PTP (Point to Point) path. While moving the motor, positions are saved in text file; afterwards an application can read those text files moving the robot autonomously in the desired path.

Controlling a robotic arm in the 3D space with stereo vision

This paper presents a method how to control a robotic arm in 3D space using only a pair of stereo cameras. The robotic arm has 3 degrees of freedom which means we have to control very precisely 3 motors. These motors will be controlled exactly as much is needed to reach the desired object. The robotic arm is detected in the 3D space with some colored spots. At the end of the gripper a 3D coordinate system is made, which helps to calculate how much movement is needed by each of the motors to reach the desired object.

Remotely commanding the lynxmotion AL5 type robotic arms

In this paper we shall show a method how to command a Lynxmotion AL5 type robotic arm. The robotic arm has 5 servomotors and can be extended with an extra servo motor to rotate the gripper. The robotic arm has an SSC-32 control board, which can control all the motors. The control board has an ATmega168 microcontroller which commanded on RS-232 interface with a PC will control the motors. The microcontroller can receive specific SCPI commands which can be interpreted and can control the motors this way moving the robotic arm.

LabVIEW powered remote lab

The goal of this paper is to present the main features of the Programmable Logic Systems and Technology laboratory implemented in the Politehnica University Timisoara, Romania. Remote learning in electronics is a demanding task; our purpose was to perform remote hardware experiments and in the same time to keep the real life feeling for each of them. In order to fulfill this goal, we combined some LabVIEW features with NI hardware and a web camera. Webcam stream servers and Linux Apache web servers were used as well and at last we came out with a platform where students can perform both simple and complex electronics experiments over a simple web browser. Several experiments are currently running and the web camera can be used to monitor the behavior of the motors, the status of the LEDs and even an overview of the boards. A detailed description of each experiment is supplied in the paper. All common browsers and operating systems are supported by our application. This laboratory makes e-learning more exciting, while the student is directly involved in all the experiments.

Comparison between Agilent and National Instruments functional test systems

This paper presents two test systems, the first with Agilent equipments and the second with National Instruments equipments. A comparison will be made about the characteristics of each. In each test systems will be presented the three main equipments which are compulsory for a functional test system: power supply, multimeter and function generator.

Robotic arm control in 3D space using stereo distance calculation

We shall present a robotic arm control method with stereo vision. No too many robots in the industry are controlled with a camera and the robots which are controlled with two or more cameras are even harder to find. We made a vision recognition application which can recognize certain key points on the robotic arm. These points are placed at the joints, over each motor. These points have different colors, so the recognition of them was a task of color recognition. After color recognition with analytical geometry we could compute the exact angle which is needed for each motor to move, For the 0X axis movement we used stereo distance calculation to know how much movement needs the robotic arm at the base joint.

Packet loss analysis in wireless sensor networks routing protocols

In this paper we analyze the importance of packet loss consideration (PLC) within inter node communication of a WSN. We evaluate the link quality between network nodes based on the link packet loss and not on the received signal strength indicator (RSSI). Our assessment is based on in field measurements obtained using the IRIS Crossbow WSN. The measurements are used to show the impact of packet loss in a known routing protocol for WSNs, LEACH. We propose a network initialization phase where all nodes gather information about the link packet loss from all neighbors. Using this information each node will choose the attending cluster head (CH) based on the smallest packet loss rather than on the highest RSSI. Matlab simulations show that considering packet loss in choosing the best communication path has a significant impact on reducing the energy consumption of the network as well as increasing network throughput.

Pong game on FPGA with CRT or LCD display and push button controls

This paper presents the creation of the Pong game on an FPGA using a computer display. The game is optimized to work on both LCD and CRT displays too. The game is implemented from scratch, it has the two pads drawn, the ball is also drawn and the background is painted in white. Everything is implemented in hardware on FPGA, so this way at the end we are able to create the ASIC with the game. The goal is to create the Pong game on a single chip.

Robotic arm control with stereo vision made in LabWindows/CVI

This paper presents a robotic arm control system with stereo vision. Two cameras are used to detect the robotic arm movement in space. Upon this detection the robotic arm is controlled and moved in the desired place. The robotic arm has special markings made from colored bottle stoppers. These colored spots are detected with the color recognition algorithm and this way the robotic arms position is recognized. These colored spot are united with straight lines and this way the skeleton of the robotic arm is created and the data is introduced in the PC. Overlays of lines and circles are created and after mathematic calculations the precise position of the motors is calculated in order to reach the desired position. The first camera is used to calculate the position of the arm on the 0Y and 0Z coordinates and the second camera is used calculate the position or the arm on 0X coordinate.

Parasitic elements modelling in thermoelectric modules

This study introduces an experimental method for determining the parasitic reactive components that appear in a thermoelectric module (TEM). In most cases, a TEM is referred to by taking into account only the constant values of the internal electrical resistance, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity. The current research is focused on determining the parasitic reactive elements, inductance and capacitance that appear in a TEM. These values are linked to the semiconductor geometry and manufacturing process. The experimental results will be used afterwards to build an accurate thermoelectric device model suitable for designing and simulating TEM-based applications.