Solar Based Robotic Arm using Matlab GUI

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1970
SOLAR BASED ROBOTIC ARM USING MATLAB GUI
K.Yashas Chandra1, Ch.Dora Babu2, R.Manikanta3,O.S.D.Akhilesh4,E.Rakesh5
1,2,3,4,5Dept. Of EEE, Pragati Engineering College, Surampalem.
---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract - This project is about designing a robotic arm
with two degree of freedom which is controlled by using
MATLAB. It is designed to be used in the movement either to
the left or right, and also used to lift an object and place it at
the desired location with the help of the arm. The
locomotion and the control of the arm is achieved by using
GUI (Graphical User Interface) in MATLAB. This project also
uses Arduino microcontroller circuit as the basic circuit.
Two DC Motors will be used as an application extension to
make movements and lifting of an object. In this project,
microcontroller is programmed instructions to control the
Four Channel Relay circuitry which in turn will control the
motors.
The objective of this project to develop the Graphical User
Interface of device control through MATLAB, interface the
MATLAB GUI that consist of transmitter and receiver
program with hardware via serial communication and
obtain the required control. By using MATLAB GUIDE, the
process of laying out and programming GUIs and interface
with microcontroller via serial communication port to
control the devices will be easier because it is already
provided with a set of tools. As a result, the devices at
remote location can be controlled by PC having MATLAB
GUI and interface the MATLAB GUI with microcontroller via
serial communication port
1.INTRODUCTION
Robots are indispensable in many factoring industries. The
reason is that the cost per hour to operate a robot is a
fraction of the cost per hour to operate a robot is a fraction
of the cost human labor needed to perform the same
function. More than this, once programmed, robots
repeatedly perform function with a high accuracy that
surpasses that of the most experienced human operator.
Human operators are, however, are more versatile.
Humans canswitch job tasks easily. Robots are built and
programmed to be job specific.
Robots are in the infantry stage of their evolution. As
robots evolve, they will become more versatile, emulating
the human capacity and ability to switch job tasks easily.
Robots require a combination of elements to be effective
sophistication of intelligence, movement, mobility,
navigation and purpose
2. Robotic Arm
The simplest arm is the pick-and-place type. In this case
the parts are moved from one location to another without
caring how the part is picked up or down. However, these
days robot arms are designed to manipulate objects
having complicated shapes and fragile in nature. These
may be used to assemble parts or fit them into clamps and
fixture. This is possible due to high accuracy attainable in
robot’s arm
3. Main Idea
Our project deals with one of the efficient method to
control a robot by using Graphical User Interface (GUI) in
MATLAB. This technique is used for easy control of the
robot to obtain the pick and place operation. It proposes a
cost effective solution to the problem of controlling
without other costlier receiving and transmitting
equipment using ATmega microcontroller, MATLAB, Four
channel relay circuit assembly to ensure robustness,
repeatability and easy implementation, the principle idea
has been kept very simple. Four channel relay circuit is
used to control the operation of the robotic arm and the
switching signals provided by the microcontroller through
output analog pins to the relays, switching the relay.
BLOCK DIAGRAM:
Fig. 1 Block Diagram
PC with MATLAB is connected to the Arduino through USB
port. The communication between MATLAB and Arduino
is done through serial communication. The four channel
relay circuitry is controlled by programming the micro
controller such that certain movement we need is
obtained by switching the respective relays. The DC
PC WITH
WINDOWS7
MATLAB
MICRO
CONTROLLER
ATMEGA 328P
4 CHANNEL RELAY CIRCUIT
GRIPPER WITH
DC MOTOR
DEGREE OF
FREEDOM

Motors are connected to the relay output, and whenever
the relay output is high, the motor starts rotating. The
robot having two degree of freedom, the arm consists of
one DC Motor and at the gripper it employs another DC
Motor. Both of the motors are controlled through four
channel relay circuit.
A simple electromagnetic relay consists of a coil of
wire wrapped around a soft iron core, an iron yoke which
provides a low reluctance path for magnetic flux, a
movable iron armature, and one or more sets of contacts
.The armature is hinged to the yoke and mechanically
linked to one or more sets of moving contacts. It is held in
place by a spring so that when the relay is de-energized
there is an air gap in the magnetic circuit. In this condition,
one of the two sets of contacts in the relay pictured is
closed, and the other set is open. Other relays may have
more or fewer sets of contacts depending on their function
Relays are simple switches which are operated
both electrically and mechanically. We know that most of
the high end industrial application devices have relays for
their effective working. Relays consist of an electromagnet
and also a set of contacts. The switching mechanism is
carried out with the help of the electromagnet. The rated
current of relay is 7A and 14V DC, for 250V AC the current
rating is 7.5A.
A brushed DC motor is an internally commutated
electric motor designed to be run from a direct current
power source. Brushed motors were the first
commercially important application of electric power to
driving mechanical energy, and DC distribution systems
were used for more than 100 years to operate motors in
commercial and industrial buildings. Brushed DC motors
can be varied in speed by changing the operating voltage
or the strength of the magnetic field.
In the project the movement of the robot is mainly
due to the motors with the help of relays. By perfect
programming the relays are operated in which the motors
rotate to move the robot. In order to get future
improvements, each motor is operated by a program. The
motors are rated 20mA, 12V DC with a torque of 3kg.
The whole project uses four DC motors in total and six
relays, in which four of the relays are connected as four
channel relay circuit the whole project is given supply
through solar energy power generation
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION:
Power supply being used for the project is generated
through solar power generation. power generated from
the panel is stored in the battery, a diode circuit is
connected between solar panel and battery to prevent the
reverse currents flowing from battery to the solar panel.
From the battery, supply is given to the Vin of the Arduino
board. The voltage regulator in the board regulates the
12v supply to 5v, which can be used by the micro
controller.
PC is connected to the Arduino through USB. The
programmed is dumped in to the microcontroller through
pc and the graphical user interface is loaded into MATLAB.
Whenever we press a graphical button in the user
interface created in MATLAB GUI, the communication
between micro controller and the pc is done through serial
communication and according the program we dump,
action would take place.
If a graphical button is pressed to move forward, the motor
1 and motor 2 rotate in clock wise direction and the robot
moves in forward direction. During this the pin 7 and pin
12 of microcontroller will be high, switching the relay
switches and supplying the power to the DC motors
making them rotate in the necessary direction.
The motor 3 and motor 4 which are responsible for the
arm movement and gripper operation are operated using
four channel relay circuit. The four channel relay circuit
basically has four relays and the output pins of micro
controller are connected to the base of a transistor, to
which collector is grounded and emitter is connected to
the negative terminal of relay. The positive terminal of
relay is given a supply, and the positive terminal of DC
motor is connected to the common of one relay and
negative terminal of the DC motor is connected to the

other relays common. When one of the relay switches, the
DC motor starts rotating in one direction and when the
other relay switches (and the first one is off) the DC motor
starts to rotate in anti-clockwise direction.
Pin 8, pin 9, pin 10, pin 11 are connected to the four inputs
of four channel relay circuit. Pin 10 and pin 11 control the
arm up and down movements and Pin 8, Pin 9 control the
gripper operation. When pin 10 is high and pin 11 is low,
the motor 3 rotates in clockwise direction and arm moves
upwards and when pin 11 is high and pin 10 is low, the
motor 3 rotates in anti-clockwise direction and the arm
moves downwards.
When pin 9 is high and pin 8 is low, motor 4 rotates in
clock wise direction and the gripper opens when pin 9 is
low and pin 8 is high, motor 4 rotates in anti-clockwise
direction and the gripper closes.
4.Hardware Equipment
Type In the hardware design the main components used
are:
 Microcontroller ATMEGA 28 328P.
 Four channel relay circuit.
 Gripper with motor.
 PV Cell Module..
 Charge controller.
a)Microcontroller ATMEGA 28 328P
Microchip Pico Power 8-bit AVR RISC-based
microcontroller combines 32KB ISP flash memory with
read-while-write capabilities, 1024B EEPROM, 2KB SRAM,
23 general purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working
registers, three flexible timer/counters with compare
modes, internal and external interrupts, serial
programmable USART, a byte-oriented 2-wire serial
interface, SPI serial port, a 6-channel 10-bit A/D converter
(8-channels in TQFP and QFN/MLF packages),
programmable watchdog timer with internal oscillator,
and five software selectable power saving modes. The
device operates between 1.8-5.5 volts. By executing
powerful instructions in a single clock cycle, the device
achieves throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz,
balancing power consumption and processing speed.
b) Four Channel Relay Circuit:
The 4-Channel Relay Driver Module makes it simple and
convenient to drive loads such as 12V relays from simple
5V digital outputs of your Arduino compatible board or
other microcontroller. When the input from the
microcontroller to the base of the Q1 becomes high, the
motor1 rotates in clock wise direction. When the input
from the microcontroller to the base of the Q2 becomes
high, the motor1 rotates in anti-clock wise direction
Fig: Four Channel Relay Circuit
For both the motors to rotate in clockwise direction,
both the inputs at the Q1 and Q3 need to be high. For both
the motors to rotate in clockwise direction, both the inputs
at the Q2 and Q4 need to be high and the inputs at 1 and 2
bases need to be low
c) Gripper with motor:
Specifications of the DC motor that is being used in the
Gripper.
Table: Specifications of the DC motor
Voltage 12V
Speed 30 RPM
Torque 3 Kg

When the motor is given supply such that it to
rotates in Anti- clockwise direction, it rotates the gears
through the shaft making the gripper close.
d) PV Cell Module:
Fig : structure of a PV module with 36 cells in series
For the majority of applications multiple solar cells need
to be connected in series or in parallel to produce enough
voltage and power. Individual cells are usually connected
in series string of cells (typically 36 or 72) to achieve the
desired output voltage. The complete assembly is usually
referred to as a module and manufacturers basically sell
modules. The modules serve another function of
protecting individual cells from water, dust, etc. as the
solar cells are placed into an encapsulation of single or
double at glasses.
Within a module the different cells are connected
electrically in series or in parallel although most modules
have a series connection. Figure shows a typical
connection of how 36 cells are connected of the individual
voltages of each cell. It is therefore, very critical for the
cells to be well matched in series string so that all cells
operate at the maximum power points. When modules are
connected in parallel the current will be the sum of the
individual currents and the output voltage will equal that
of a single cell.
e) Charge Controller :
A charge controller, charge regulator or battery
regulator limits the rate at which electric current is added
to or drawn from electric batteries. It prevents
overcharging and may protect against overvoltage, which
can reduce battery performance or lifespan, and may pose
a safety risk. It may also prevent completely draining
("deep discharging") a battery, or perform controlled
discharges, depending on the battery technology, to
protect battery life. The terms "charge controller" or
"charge regulator" may refer to either a stand-alone
device, or to control circuitry integrated within a battery
pack, battery-powered device, or battery charger.
A series charge controller or series regulator disables
further current flow into batteries when they are full.
A shunt charge controller or shunt regulator diverts excess
electricity to an auxiliary or “shunt” load, such as an
electric water heater, when batteries are full.
4.Results and discussion:
We can operate the robot by using Graphical User
Interface(GUI) in MATLAB, required operations can be
obtained by pressing the graphical buttons in GUI. By
using this we can pick any object and operate the robot in
forward, right, left direction and place the object wherever
we need
Fig (d) : Overview of project
The Table number 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 gives the detailed
description of the movement of the robot.
Logic 1: It represents the rotation of motor in clockwise
direction
Logic 0: It represents the rotation of motor in Anti
clockwise direction
When logics are 1 for both motor 1 and motor 2 rotate in
same direction, the robot moves forward and when motor

1 is logic 1 and motor 2 is logic 0, the robot moves to left.
When motor 1 is logic 0 and motor 2 is logic 1 the robot
moves to right side. When motor logic 0 and motor 2 is
logic 1then the robot moves to left. When both motor 1
and motor 2 have the logic 0 then there is no movement in
the robot.
The table number fig(d) shows the movement of robot
respective to the rotation of the motor1 and motor2
Table 5.1: Movement of Robot according to the
rotation of Motors
When motor 3 moves in clockwise direction then
the movement of the arm is downward and when the
motor 3 moves in anti clock wise direction then the
movement of the arm is upward. The below table the arm
movements with respect to the rotation of the motor 3
Motor 3 Arm
Movement
Clock wise Downward
Anti-Clock wise Upward
Table5.2: Arm movements according to motors
rotation
when the motor 4 moves in clock wise direction then the
gripper is open and when the motor 4 move in anti
clockwise direction, the gripper closes on to the object.
The below table 5.3 shows the operation of
gripper with respect to the rotation of motor 4
Table 5.3: Gripper Operation According to motor
rotation
Motor 4 Gripper
Operation
Clock wise Open
Anti-Clock wise Close
6.References:
[5]. P.Manojkumar bookon‘BUILDMATLABGUI’
written in 2003
[6]. Di Santo et al (2004) ‘A distributed architecture
for solar energy system based’ power system in
California university pages 24-28.
[7]. E. E. Van Dyk and E. L. Meyer, “Analysis of the
Effect of Parasitic Resistances on the Performance of
Photovoltaic Modules,” Renewable Energy, Vol. 29, No.
3, 2004, pp. 333-344.
[8]. Sang-Hoon Lee, Yan-Fang Li, and Vikram Kapila
‘Development of a Matlab-Based Graphical User
Interface Environment for PIC Microcontroller
Projects’ in 2004American Society for Engineering
Education Annual Conference & Exposition
[9]. Chintan, S.S. and Solanki, C.s., “Experimental
evaluation of V-trough PV concentrator system using
commercial PV modules”, Solar Energy Materials and
Solar cells, vol. 91, p.453, 2007.
[10]. Matt Blackmore, Jacob Furniss, Shaun Ochsner
ECE 478/578 Embedded Robotics Fall 2009 Portland State
University ‘regarding degree of freedom an end effectors’
[11]. Sunil, K.A., Satyshree, G. and Patil, K.N. Solar Flat
Plate Collector Analysis, IOSRJEN. 2012. 2(2) 207-213.
[12]. Analysis of Solar PV cell Performance with
Changing Irradiance and Temperature Pradhan
Arjyadhara1, Ali S.M2, Jena Chitralekha3 International
Journal Of Engineering And Computer Science ISSN:2319-
7242 Volume 2 Issue 1 Jan 2013 Page No. 214-220
[13]. Atmega328p data sheets
Motor
1
Motor2 Movement
of the
Robot
1 1 Forward
1 0 Right
0 1 Left
0 0 No
Movement
nc
[1]. Winters, S., Hong, D., Velinsky, S., and Yamazaki, K.
(1994). A New Robotics System Co ept for
Automating Highway Maintenance Operations.
[2]. Electronics Data Book (1998),
http//www.circuitidears.com
[3]. Murray, C.D., and Dermott, S.F. 1999, Solar system
dynamics, (New York, Cambridge)
[4]. Douglas, V.H; “Microprocessor and Interfacing”.
Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi; 2nd Edition, 1999
RudraPratap Suman “UART AND SERIAL
COMMUNICATION” in 2001 ijser volume 1 , No. 5,page
98-101

Solar Based Robotic Arm using Matlab GUI

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