Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

Step1:
Introduction To Designing Of Robots
(Part1)
Statics and Mechanics

The Robotics And Innovation Club

College Of Engineering Roorkee

Vatsalya Sharma
Captain,Robocon team,
(2009,2010)
B.Tech,Mechanical Engineering
2007-2011
College Of Engineerng Roorkee
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

Preface
What is robotics anyways? Some call it a child's fascination,others a small view of future. But I think
robotics is something that you create with your engineering skills of mechanical, electronics and
programming to fulfill some desired function.
You have probably noticed how often robotics is divided up into these three separate categories . This
is because making robots involves three independent skills. Only combined, can you make a
functioning robot. When a robot designer makes a robot, he has to account for all three in the design
phase so that each falls into balance. First will be mechanics where we build the robot, then electronics
where we hook up the brains and sensors, and finally software will be written to program the robot to
make it intelligent enough.
Well robotics has never been what I said all above to me. Its been a journey of hard work and
willpower with never-ending struggle to reach the top. I began my foray in robotics with my dream to
win Robocon- the most prestigious competition one can ever compete in his engineering student days.
The main inspiration to write these tutorials is just the absence of a proper material in this field, which
could be utilized anytime to get us out of the problems as quickly as possible and share the knowledge
so that others do not have to reinvent the wheel again and again. Due to absence of any type of
guidance , during my I year when I had to sit on net for hours for collecting information and the again
spending hours in separating waste and useful information and then analyzing this information ( there
is too much of information pollution on net) I pledged that all the time I 'spent in inventing the wheel
shall not be repeated by those who shall come after me.
I wish if someone would have done all of this before, I could have done even more in this field.
What I have seen from my experience that in constructing bots for small competitions people do-not
conduct sufficient analysis, leading to surprising failures at critical points as a certain degree of
uncer tainty is always left if the robot is not analyzed. It is not ''necessary'' to do it for small
competitions

BUT for research robots and competitions like Robocon where time, and money are the most
impor tant assets, this analysis becomes the first starting step as well as a necessity to carry out the
operation forward. Chances of failures get reduced by 70% a proper analysis is carried out and
executed. This analysis is the first basic step towards designing the robots, where complete knowledge
of mechanics comes in handy and drawing board experience reduces cost and pains of manufacturing
and improves technology of the team exponentially.Applying all the topics one by one we can easily
design a robot worth competing and winning by minimum input of money and effort and helps in
debugging the problems easily and more rapidly rather than just sitting and thinking of what went
wrong. It also helps in giving aesthetics to the machine rather than looking like an immature attempt.
Moreover understanding the basics behind these machines justifies ourselves as engineers rather than a
layman mechanic.
Before you start off I would like you to remember the Murphy's law:If any thing can fail, it
will . You will know the importance of this law once you start off your journey to robotics.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots
Chapter 1:
Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Theory, Statics

Want to optimize your robot parameters mathematically? Want to verify that an expensive motor you
are about to purchase has enough torque? This chapter is in Mechanical Engineering so this tutorial
should be extra useful . . .

My approach will be talking about the most common calculation uses of mechanical forces for robots. I
will offer specific application examples, the theory, equations, and some pretty graphs to help you
understand.
1.1 Theory: Statics
Statics is concerned about how a mechanical system would act if everything is perfectly motionless and
rigid. It is the most fundamental of all calculations, and mathematically is no more complicated then
highschool algebra. All you need to understand is how to build an equation from the mechanical parts
you use.

Remember in elementary you learned (or should have learned) that for every force there is an equal
and opposite force ? For example, if I were to stand straight, then push you forcefully, I would end up
forcefully pushing myself back at an equal amount. If you push a wall, the wall is pushing you back.
Why is this important? Easy. If an object weighs 10 pounds, your actuator needs to be able to lift at
least 10 pounds. This sounds numbingly simple, right?
Now suppose you add in friction of joints, efficiency rates, multiple actuators, and unevenly distributed
weight across an oddly shaped object. Obviously the problem can balloon to something quite complex.
This is what I will talk about, all directly relating to robotics and in simplified form.

Moment arms will probably be the most useful for you. The basic equation is moment equals force
times the distance of the beam the force is being applied perpendicularly at.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

Moment = Force * distance

Here is the first example. What you see is an object of some length.
It is fixed rigidly at one end. And
the other has some force being applied to it. This force can be
something hanging on it, something
pushing it, a hammer hitting it, a gear moving it, gravity/weight, etc.
Does not really matter.

All you do is measure the distance and multiply that by the force that is being
applied. You should
always know the expected force being applied to your robot, or you are taking a
risk of buying an
actuator that is too weak or too big and strong. If the robot is lifting a cube,
know the weight of the
cube. If the robot is climbing, know the estimated weight of the robot.
Even rudimentary calculations
can help you better understand the force requirements of your robot.

Now suppose your robot is lifting a cube with an ar m. A moment about the shoulder is being created by
both the weight of the can, but also the weight of the arm itself. How do you calculate this? You would
add the moments created by each together.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

Moment = cube_weight * arm_length + arm_weight * 1/2 * arm_length

Notice that for the arm length we only use half the value. Why?
Because weight is distributed throughout the entire arm.
Theor etically all you are doing is adding up all of the force across the arm, and applying it to the center
of mass of the robot arm. The center of mass is the exact point where an object can be perfectly
balanced. I estimated the center of mass to be the midpoint (1/2 length) of your robot arm. However it
may not be. You can easily find the center of mass of any object by balancing it on your finger and then
measur ing that distance with a ruler.
Now suppose you have calculated the moment. What do you do with this number? This is actually the
torque being applied. So when you look for a motor to power the shoulder of your robot, just reference
this calculated value as your minimum required torque.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots
Unit-2
Power Transmission Devices
2.1 Pulleys
Pulley is a power transmission device used to transmit power for long distances.
Ther e are different types of pulleys and their arrangements:

Force Analysis
Calculating pulley forces is very simple. A pulley is a simple moment arm. The force being applied on
the rope multiplied by the pulley radius is the torque being applied. But now notice that there are two
forces countering each other. This is like two opposite moments, so
you would subtract them.
Remember, don't be confused by the device itself.

Moment = Torque = Force_A * Pulley_Radius - Force_B * Pulley_Radius

or Torque = Pulley_Radius * (Force_A - Force_B)
You should also note Force C, the force required to hold the pulley up.
Force C is always Force_A + Force_B + pulley_weight .

2.2 Lever Principle:Crowbar

Another example of a moment would be a crow bar. What you have is a beam, a pivot point in the
center, and a weight on each end. Now suppose you have two exact same weights. Now move one of
those weights real close to the pivot point. What will happen? The weight that did not move would go
down. Although the force remained the same, the distance decreased, therefore resulting in a smaller
moment.
 Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

Although this example looks ver y different from the rest, it is actually exactly the same.
Both sides of the crowbar create a moment about the pivot point (the triangle tip). So your equation is
this:
Moment Side A = Moment Side B
Force_A * Length_2 = Force_B * Length_1

Now if you knew any three variables out of the four, you can use simple algebra to calculate the fourth
one.
4.3 Introduction to Gears
No good robot can ever be built without gears. As such, a good understanding of how gears affect
parameters such as torque and velocity are very important. In this tutorial I will first talk about the
basics of gears, how to use them properly along with simple equations, and then I will go into specific
types of gears.

4.3.1 Mechanical Advantage, Torque vs. Rotational Velocity

Gears work on the principle of mechanical advantage. This means that by using different gear This
means that by using different gear diameters, you can exchange between rotational (or translation)
velocity and torque.

As with all motors, by looking at the motor datasheet you can determine the output velocity and torque
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

of your motor. But unfortunately for robots, motors commercially available do not normally have a
desirable speed to torque ratio (the main exception being servos and high torque motors with built in
gearboxes ). For example, do you really want your robot wheels to rotate at 10,000 rpm at low torques?
In robotics, torque is better than speed. BUT NOT ALWAYS!!!!
4.3.2 Gear Pitch
When selecting your gears, the three most important numbers
you
must know are pitch , pitch
diameter , and num ber of teeth .

The pitch diameter is as shown. To calculate the pitch, simply use this equation:
Pitch = # teeth / pitch circle diameter (in inches)
For example, a gear with 72 teeth and a 1.5" pitch diameter is 48 Pitch. Gears that mesh must both have
the same pitch and pressure angle (usually 20 degrees).

4.3.3 Gear Types

All gears, no matter the type, work on the same principles above. However the different types let you
accomplish different things. Some types of gears have high efficiencies, or high gearing ratios, or work
at different angles, for example. Below are the main common types. This is not a complete list. It is
also possible to have a combination in types.
Note: The efficiencies listed are only typical. Because of many other factors could be present, the listed
efficiencies should only be used as a guide. Often manufactur ers will give you expected efficiencies in
the datasheets for their gears. Remember, wear and lubrication will also dramatically affect gear
efficiencies.
 Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

4.3.4 Spur Gears (~90% efficiency)

Spur gears are the most commonly used gears due to their simplicity and the fact that they have the
highest possible efficiency of all gear types. Not recommend for very high loads as gear teeth can break
more easily.

4.3.5 Helical Gears (~80% efficiency)

Helical gears operate just like spur gears, but offer smoother operation. You can also optionally operate
them at an angle, too. Unfortunately, due to the complex shape, they are generally more expensive.

4.3.6 Sproket Gears With Chains (~80% efficiency)

Two gears with a chain can be considered as three separate gears. Since there is an odd number, the
 Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

rotation direction is the same. They operate basically like spur gears, but
due to increased contact area
ther e is increased friction (hence lower efficiency). Lubrication is
highly recommended.

To change the length of any chain, you will need what is called a chain breaker .
This is a cheap device
you can buy at any bike store. It helps in removing and placing pins within the chain.

4.3.7 Bevel Gears (~70% efficiency)

Bevel gears are good for changing the rotation angle. Unfortunately they
suffer low efficiencies, so
avoid use if possible.
4.3.8 Rack and Pinion (~90% efficiency)

Rack and Pinion is the type of gearing found in steering systems. This gearing is great if you want to
conver t rotational motion into translational. Mathematically, use radius = 1 for the straight 'gear'.
 Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

4.3.9 Worm Gears (~70% eff iciency)

Worm gears have a very high gearing ratio. To mathematically calculate, consider the worm gear as a
single tooth. Another advantage to the worm gear is that it is not back-drivable . What this means is
only your motor can rotate the main gear, so things like gravity or counter forces will not cause any
rotation. This is good say if you have a robot arm holding something heavy, and you don't want to
waste power on holding torque. The efficiency is low, but lubrication really helps.
4.3.10 Planetary Gears (~80% efficiency)
Planetary gears have the highest commercially available gear ratios you would ever want to put on a
robot. But since they are somewhat complicated, you would never need
to build one, just use it. The
datasheet should tell you the gearing ratio - I just wanted you to know if you
need a really really high
gear ing ratio for a robot, planetary gears are the way to go. Even better,
some planetary gears offer
multiple gear ing ratio's that are user configurable!

Planetary Gears
 Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

4.4 Direction of Gear Rotation

When designing your gear setup you should understand how gearing changes the rotation direction of
your output. Two gears touching will always be
counter rotation, meaning if one rotates clockwise, the
other will always rotate counterclockwise.
Obvious, I
know. But what if you have a chain of say 6
gears touching? The rule is, an odd numbers
of gears always rotates in the same direction , and
even numbers of gears are counter-rotational .

4.4.1Gear Chains (more than 2 gears together)

Suppose you have 30 gears (holy squirrels!), all in order, like in the image above. How in the monkies
do you calculate the gearing ratio of that behemoth? Easy. Ignore all the gears in between the very first
and very last gear. If the diameter of the first gear is 2 inches, and the diameter of the last is 1 inch, you
have a 2:1 ratio. The gears in between do not matter.

4.5 Safety Factor

If you are unsure of various perhaps uncalculatable factors, always add what is called a factor of
saf ety . For example, suppose you guess a cube can weighs between 1 to 2 kg. A factor of safety would
say, 'design the system to handle 2.5 kg, just in case.'
So what should your factor be? Guess. I would recommend 1.2 , but its really up to you. What does this
number mean? Suppose your calculations say you need a motor rated at least 100Nm, then multiple
that by 1.2 to get 120Nm as your minimum motor force. The factor of safety is not an exact science,
obviously. If you expect to have high fatigue from shock or overuse, high friction, or bending, make the
factor of safety higher.
So why not make my safety factor really high? Well, you can, but motors with higher torques are also
more expensive. Thicker materials can cost you more too. So why not a small safety factor? Well, if
friction is much higher in your robot than you expected, your robot just won't work very well.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots
Unit 3:
Friction
3.1 Friction
Calculating friction is often a black art. There are many situations which are hard to factor in such as
surface tension, humidity, etc. But there are several sure ways to find a reasonable value to help you
build your robot. The first thing you should look at is what is called the coef ficient of friction . This is a
dimensionless property which can be looked up for any two materials. What does this number mean?
Well suppose you are standing on ice with rubber shoes and you want to calculate the pushing force
requir ed to slide across the ice.
force of friction = weight * u.rubber-ice
Just multiple the force being applied perpendicular to the contacting materials (your weight) and
multiply that by the coefficient of friction
of ice against rubber.
This would be the force required to
counter friction to slide across the ice.

Understanding friction is also useful when designing robot pincers . If the friction is miscalculated,
your robot victims would be able to escape! Now we cant have that . . . So here is how you do it. A
robot pincer squeezes from both sides. So this is your force. The typical human however wants to fall
down out of your robot pincers by gravity.
 Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

Now all you need to do is squeeze hard enough so that the force of friction is greater than the force of
gravity.
force_squeeze * u.pincer-human_neck > human_weight
You probably won't find a reliable coefficient of friction for robot pincers rubbing up against a human
neck, but using higher friction pincer material will help.
Actually, finding the coefficient of friction can be a little more complicated. There are actually two
coeffiecients.
It turns out that friction is related to the rubbing velocity of the materials. Ever notice how it is easier to
push a heavy object across the ground after it is already moving?
The static coefficient of friction is when the materials are stationary.
The kinetic coefficient of friction is when the materials are already in motion against each other. What
makes it a black art is that there is never any exact clear boundary between the two values.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

3.2 Here is a quick coefficient of friction lookup reference of some common materials you may use:
Material 1 Material 2 Static Kinetic
Aluminum Aluminum 1.05 - 1.35 1.4
Aluminum Steel 0.61 0.47
Plexiglass Plexiglass 0.8 -
Plexiglass Steel 0.4 - 0.5 -
Polystyrene Polystyrene 0.5 -
Polystyrene Steel 0.3 - 0.35 -
Polythene Steel 0.2 -
Rubber Asphalt (dr y) 0.5 - 0.8 -
Rubber Asphalt (wet) 0.25 - 0.75 -
Rubber Concrete (dry) 0.6 - 0.85 -
Rubber Concrete (wet) 0.45 - 0.75 -
Teflon Steel 0.04 -
Teflon Teflon 0.04 -
Wood Wood (clean) 0.25 - 0.5 -
Wood Wood (wet) 0.2 -
Wood Metals (clean) 0.2 - 0.6 -
Wood Metals (wet) 0.2 -
Wood Brick 0.6 -
Wood Concrete 0.62 -
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots
Unit-4
Motor selection calculations
Extensive calculations are required before one could buy an electric motor for his robot. Motors form
one of the most important and costly part of the entire system. They are the easiest wasy to impart
motion to any part of the system and actuate our dreams.

The given calculations below are what I devised for selection of motors(Motors=D.C motors) during
the Robocon 2009, the very first attempt,because we had very less money to begin with and the motors
that were suggested for robocon by other teams on Internet were too expensive with respect to our
capacity. There is very little or rather no data on net regarding these calculations on net, so I was more
or less on my own to calculate the required specifications of motors!!! and how do one modify the
gener al mechanics to real life application- a problem of reliability of solution always stood before me
like a speed breaker on my road to robocon. But still, somehow I managed to overcome the obstacle.

These are the very basic calculations before one puts his money to buy them.
4.1 Speed

The first attribute well consider is the linear speed of the player. The maximum linear speed is
determined by three parts of the drive system: the wheel size, the motor's angular speed for a given
torque, and any gearing that may be present between the motor and the wheel. Starting with the wheel
size, the distance (d) traveled by the robot per each wheel rotation is the familiar

where r is the radius of the wheel. The average linear speed (v) of the translation is
simply this distance
divided by the time taken to travel it. This speed can be expressed in terms of the product of the angular
speed, i.e. the number of revolutions of the wheel per second, and the distance traveled per revolution:

where f is the angular speed. We can manipulate the above equation to express the angular
speed as a
function of the linear speed:

Multiplying by 60 seconds per minute, we express the angular speed in the common units
of revolutions per minute (RPM):

If ther e are gears between the motor and the wheel, the angular speed of the wheel differs from that of
the motor by a constant multiplier called the gear ratio which is the ratio of the number of teeth on the
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

drive gear to the number of teeth on the driven gear. (If pulleys are used, the ratio is of their
radii. Actually the number of teeth on a gear is a function of the gear s cir cumference
which is a function of its radius.) Gears can be cascaded to achieve any arbitrary ratio which
is simply the product of the individual ratios.
As an example of the use of gears, if we have a 3-to-2 reduction from motor to wheel, the
motor speed in RPM needs to be multiplied by 2/3 to get the wheel speed in RPM. Speed
reduction is achieved by a small gear driving a larger one. Speed increase is achieved via
the larger driving the smaller. Gearing
also affects the torque delivered to the wheel which will be discussed
in
the next section.
Motor Speed Example
Suppose we have a wheel with a 50.0 mm radius. Lets also suppose that we want the linear speed to be
1 m/s. What does the angular speed of the motor have to be in RPM?

4.2 Torque
Once weve decided how fast the players can move, we have to determine how big a motor well need;
i.e. how much torque (T) the motor needs to deliver to obtain the desired linear speed and
acceleration (a). Torque is the product of the force (F) normal to a line intersecting the
center of rotation and the distance along that line at which the force is applied. Typical units
of torque are a distance unit times a
force (weight) unit such as in-oz. The product of torque and angular
speed is power. The maximum
torque that a permanent-magnet dc motor can deliver
occurs at the speed equal to zero and is
called the
stall torque. At maximum or "free" speed, the motor delivers zero
torque. The power curve resulting
from the torque-speed product is parabolic with a maximum occurring
between the stall torque and the
maximum speed as shown Figure 1.

Figure 1. Torque x Speed = Power.

To determine how much torque well need, we have to know the forces involved in getting
and keeping the robots moving. Since the soccer field is flat, i.e. no hills, were only
concerned with two forces: that due to inertia when accelerating and that due to frictional
force. The frictional force can be divided into sliding friction in gears, axles, etc. and into
rolling friction due to deformations between the wheels and
floor (soccer field). The sliding friction can further be divided into static and dynamic. Static friction
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots

resists any movement; however once movement begins, sliding friction becomes totally dynamic. The
force due to dynamic friction is less than that due to static friction.
To calculate the forces due to friction, we need to know coefficients of friction and the normal forces
due to weight. The friction coefficients are functions of the types of materials that are in sliding and
rolling contact and, in the case of rolling friction, the radius of the wheels. These values are difficult to
obtain from reference sources because of the number of combinations of materials. Generally the
coefficients of sliding friction range from about 0.01 to 0.5 for unlubricated metals and plastics. Rolling
friction coefficients are typically two to three orders of magnitude smaller than sliding coefficients.
Dynamic and rolling frictional forces can be determined empirically by pulling the robot at a constant
speed (with no motors) using a spring scale. For robotic soccer players the frictional forces will
gener ally be outweighed by the inertial force.
According to Sir Isaac Newton, inertial force is the product of mass and acceleration. Given the mass
of the robot player and choosing a desirable acceleration, we can determine this
inertial force. Since
each of the motors will share the load, we can split the total of the inertial
force and frictional forces by
dividing by the number of wheels driven by motors. Assuming a direct
connection between the wheel
and the motor, we can now calculate the required torque for each
motor by
multiplying the sum of the
split inertial force and the frictional forces times the radius of the wheel as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Force x Radius = Torque.

If ther e are gears between the motor and the wheel, we reduce the torque required of
the motor by multiplying it by the gear ratio assuming the gears reduce the speed. If the gears increase
the speed, we increase the torque requirement of the motor by again multiplying
by the gear ratio.
Torque Requirement Example
Suppose we have a robot that weighs 1 kg with two drive wheels of radii 50 mm. Also, suppose we
would like to accelerate the robot at 10 m/s and that the effective frictional coefficient is 0.2. How
much torque is required from each motor?
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots
4.3 Procedure
1. Estimate the weight of the robot.
2. Estimate or empirically determine the friction coefficients.
3. Choose the maximum speed, wheel size, and acceleration.
4. From the maximum speed requir ement and wheel size determine the angular speed of the motor.
5. From the weight estimation and acceleration requirement, determine the minimum torque of the
motor.
6. Pick a motor with torque and speed specifications which exceed the calculated values.
Remember that the maximum power point occurs between the free speed and the stall torque.
7. Design a controller for the motor (topic of forthcoming sections).
8. 1kgf=9.8 N. Nearly all the motor ratings are specified in Kgf-cm, so always perform the
required calculations before picking up the motor.
Step 1: Introduction to designing of Robots
Closing Words:
This concludes with the section and chapter of statics in mechanical engineering that must be enough
for each one of us to do a little force analysis in our robot building.

So all the best with your machine building and keep up the good work!!!

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