Robotic Arms

actuator

a motor or valve that converts power into robot movement

hydraulic adv

able to handle heavy loads on the end of the manipulator arm

closed loop

allows for feedback; servo robots

work envelope

area within reach of the robot's end effector

rotational traverse

arm movement on a vertical axis

vertical traverse

arm up-and-down motion

electrical disadv

backlash, friction, compliance, and wear

Spherical

configuration that has a telescoping boom that extends and retracts to provide reach

Cylindrical

configuration that has two orthogonal slides, placed at a 90 degree angle mounted on a rotary axis

Revolute

configuration that is also known as jointed-arm

Cartesian

configuration that uses the x, y and z axes

controller

coordinates all movements of the mechanical system

coordinate system

determines the shape of the robot's work envelope along with arrangement of joints and the length of the manipulator's segments

radial traverse

extension and retraction of the arm; in-and-out motion

pneumatic adv

good for lightweight pick-and-place applications that require both speed and accuracy

open-loop

no feedback mechanism is used to compare programmed positions to actual positions; non-servo robot

pneumatic disadv

noisy and vibrate

hydraulic disadv

not recommended for clean-room environments

grasping

one purpose of the end effector; others include lifting, transporting, maneuvering, or performing operations on a workpiece

pneumatic

power supplied by air

hydraulic

power supplied by fluid

power supply

provides the energy to drive the controller and actuators

electrical adv

quiet, simple, and can be used in clean-air environments; require less floor space

torque

rotational equivalent of force

program

series of instructions stored in the controller's memory that initiates the movement

teach pendant

teaches a robot the movements required to perform a useful task

manipulator

the arm of the robot which must move through various motions to provide useful work

end effector

the robot's hand or the end-of-arm tooling

degree of freedom

used to describe a robot's freedom of motion in three dimensional space

programming

used to record movements into the robot's memory

pitch

wrist bend, up-and-down

yaw

wrist side-to-side movement

roll

wrist swivel, involves rotation