Wireless animatronic ARM

摘要

This paper draws from a small research project `Wireless Animatronic Arm', which is a prototype created to present the immense potential of an artificial arm, controlled wirelessly by any controlling device (in this case, a human arm). The paper discusses some of the previous work done in the field of robotic arms, the technology that went into the designing of the Wireless Animatronic Arm and its probable future modifications. The Wireless Animatronic Arm has two separate movements - to grab or release objects - controlled by servomotors. The user wears a glove (sensory unit) to control the animatronic arm wirelessly by motion sensing. Flex sensors, attached to the glove, sense motion in the user's hand and with the help of an arduino w/ATmega 328, processes the corresponding analog signals, and transmits it to the receiving arduino w/ATmega 328, which in turn controls the animatronic hand using servomotors. XBee radios establish wireless communication between the sensing unit and the animatronic arm. The Wireless Animatronic Arm is to be a stepping-stone for future applications in heavy industrial work, medical surgery, and prosthetics.