Learning the different aspects of robotics for design of robotic arm

Hello everyone,

I am a 1st year undergrad CS major. My mathematical background is introductory differential and integral calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations. My experience in physics is somewhat equivalent to freshman physics. My programming experience is introductory C and Python. I have worked with Arduino boards and Raspberry Pis.

My friends and I are working together to build a robotic arm. The main mechanical challenge is that our robot must be capable of lifting around 25 pounds of mass.

The problem is that all of us are CS/EE majors, and our college doesn’t have any departments other than CS/EE, so our only solution is to learn the mechanical aspects of robot design by ourselves.

The way I see it, we need to learn some of the underlying mechanics of robotics, and we need to learn about some software for designing and simulating the robotic arm, so that we can arrive at the desired motor parameters, arm rod dimensions, and to ensure that the whole thing doesn’t just topple over or break.

Thank you!

25 pounds (>11Kg) is significant, and on a student budget, incredibly difficult to achieve using rotary actuators. I’ll assume you want to create an multi-degree-of-freedom articulated arm, and in order to get any reach, you should strongly consider using linear actuators like:


The servo at the base should use ball / thrust / angled bearings to support the weight of the arm, and a decent geared motor or large servo. The shoulder and elbow can be linear actuators (you’ll need to do some basic force calculations - suggest using variables first, then adding values):
https://www.robotshop.com/en/actuators.html

Regarding the structure, you can use aluminum extrusions sourced from a local hardware store or online. RobotShop carries many.

Hope this helps.

thankyou so much!!

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