MULTIPURPOSE SUPERNUMERARY ROBOTIC ARMS FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Supernumerary robotic arms are a type of wearable robotics which provide extra pair of arms to a user for performing multitude of tasks. The unique feature associated with the supernumerary robotic arms is that they reduce the complexity of kinematics of human arms, resulting in an easier and unobstructed movement. Because of their uniqueness, research is being carried out to use them as assistive robots in areas like aircraft manufacturing industry, construction sites, elderly assistance and gait rehabilitation. With a large number of heavy industries in Pakistan, there is a risk of injuries for the workers on the field, especially back injuries because of carrying large amount of loads. The goal of this project was to establish a supernumerary robotic arms model which would assist the workers in the industries in multiple load-lifting tasks of upto 100 kgs. The proposed model can be worn by the user and can hold and lift objects, assisting the wearer in the desired task. Actuation has been done using a self-designed gearbox along with a number of pulleys to increase the mechanical advantage. The user will be able to control the robot using the movement of his arms, which will be detected by the cameras and the movement will be translated onto the robotic arms, making them in synchronous with the user. Pose estimation was done on Python for the control of the robotic arms. MATLAB was used for forward and inverse kinematics of the model. Material selection was done on the basis of availability of materials in Pakistan. Furthermore, stress and strain analysis of the final designed model was done on SolidWorks, COMSOL and ANSYS with a factor of safety of 2.