Major Project Report on

GESTURE CONTROLLED PROSTHETIC ARM

Session: 2014-2015

A Dissertation submitted to
Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishvavidyalaya, Bhopal
in partial fulfillment of the requirement for award of the
degree of
Bachelor of Engineering
In
Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr.Anjana Jain
Assistant Professor, Aayush Bansal (0801EC111002)
Electronics and Aditya Jain (0801EC111006)
Telecommunication Engineering, Animesh Danayak (0801EC111011)
S.G.S.I.T.S. Indore Suman Bhagat (0801EC111094)

i
 Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering

Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science, Indore

(An Autonomous Institute)

Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishvavidylaya (R.G.P.V), Bhopal

RECOMMENDATION

This dissertation work titled “Gesture controlled prosthetic arm” is

submitted by Aayush Bansal, Aditya Jain, Animesh Danayak and
Suman Bhagat for the fulfillment of the degree of Bachelor of
Engineering in Mechanical Engineering.

Dr.Anjana Jain Director

Assistant Professor, S.G.S.I.T.S. Indore
Department of
Electronics and Telecommunication
S.G.S.I.T.S. Indore
2
 SHRI G.S. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, INDORE (M.P.)

(An Autonomous Institute, Established in 1952)

CERTIFICATE

The major project report entitled “Gesture Controlled Prosthetic Arm”

submitted by Aayush Bansal, Aditya Jain, Animesh Danayak and
Suman Bhagat, students of B.E. Electronics and Telecommunication
Engineering, in session 2014-15, under Guidance of Dr. Anjana Jain ,
towards partial fulfillment of degree of Bachelor of Engineering
conducted by Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, is a
satisfactory account of their work.

Internal Examiner: External Examiner:

Date: Date:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We regard it as our proud privilege to work under Dr. Anjana Jain,

Assistant Professor, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
Department, S.G.S.I.T.S., Indore and express our indebtedness and
sincere gratitude for her valuable guidance, generous help and constant
encouragement at every stage in the completion of this work.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Prakash D. Vyavahare, Head

of Department, Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering for his
support throughout the endeavour.

We are extremely grateful to the Director, S.G.S.I.T.S. Indore for

providing all the facilities during the course of study.

A blend of gratitude, pleasure and great satisfaction is what we feel to

convey our indebtedness to all those who have directly or indirectly
contributed to successful completion of our dissertation work.

Finally we express our love and respect towards our family members
who are our strength in every work we do.

Project Team:
Department of Aayush Bansal
Electronics and Aditya Jain
Telecommunication Animesh Danayak
S.G.S.I.T.S. Indore Suman Bhagat

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 ABSTRACT

For quite some time, we have been interested in making a wearable

gestural device. This project is the result of this longer-term desired
effort.
Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which
seem to animate the real-time gestures. Animatronic figures are most
often powered by pneumatics (compressed air), and, in special
instances, hydraulics (pressurized oil), or by electrical means. The
figures are precisely customized with the exact dimensions and
proportions of living creatures. Motion actuators are often used to
imitate “muscle” movements, such as limbs to create realistic motions.
Also, the figure is covered with body shells and flexible skins made of
hard and soft plastic materials. Then, the figure can be finished by
adding details like colors, hair and feathers and other components to
make the figure more realistic.
The idea came to us after watching computer scientist and inventor-
Pranav Mistry who invented the sixth sense technology using wearable-
gestural devices.
Approximating the kinematics of the human hand was our top priority
when developing this animatronic hand. Each joint of this hand has a
movement range very close to that of a human hand.
The project aims at making life easy for people who have lost their
limbs due some unfortunate turn of events.

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 CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
1.1 Motivation
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Literature survey
Overview
CHAPTER 2: Problem Formulation
2.1 Block Diagram
2.2 Circuit Diagram
2.3 Working
Overview
CHAPTER 3: Hardware Implementation
3.1 PCB Manufacturing and Design specifications
3.2 PCB Layout
Overview
CHAPTER 4: Software Implementation
4.1 Flowchart
4.2 Program
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 Overview

CHAPTER 5: Tools used

5.1 EAGLE
5.2 Arduino
Overview
CHAPTER 6: Component Description
6.1 Description of components used
6.2 Price Description of components
Overview
CHAPTER 7: Conclusion
7.1 Problems Encountered
7.2 Limitations
7.3 Future Enhancements

LIST OF FIGURES

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Motivation
Nowadays, robot technology development is growing at exponential rate.
More complex robots that capable to imitate human body movement already
exists. That is why robots have been already used to perform human tasks in
many aspects of life such as industry, medical, research, aerospace etc. The
robot can perform tasks in the location where human presence is prohibited
such in a research that include dangerous material or in outer-space where
human life is not supported. This report will design an animatronic robotic
hand that can perform real human tasks and control it using hand gesture
control.

Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem

animate rather than robotic. Animatronic figures are most often powered by
pneumatics (compressed air), and, in special instances, hydraulics
(pressurized oil), or by electrical means. The figures are precisely customized
with the exact dimensions and proportions of living creatures. Motion
actuators are often used to imitate “muscle” movements, such as limbs to
create realistic motions. Also, the figure is covered with body shells and
flexible skins made of hard and soft plastic materials. Then, the figure can be
finished by adding details like colors, hair and feathers and other components
to make the figure more realistic.

The project idea came to us after watching the movie named “Real Steel”. We
wanted to make a shadow robot from our curiosity. As the whole body of the
8
robot would have been of much cost. We decided to make a shadow hand
instead. Approximating the kinematics of the human hand was our top
priority when developing this animatronic hand. Each joint of this hand has a
movement range again the same as or very close to that of a human hand,
including the thumb and even the flex of the palm for the little finger.

1.2 Introduction
A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar
functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by
joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or
translational (linear) displacement. The links of the manipulator can be
considered to form a kinematic chain. The business end of the kinematic chain
of the manipulator is called the end effectors and it is analogous to the human
hand. The end effectors can be designed to perform any desired task such as
welding, gripping, spinning etc., depending on the application. The robot arms
can be autonomous or controlled manually and can be used to perform a
variety of tasks with great accuracy. The robotic arm can be fixed or mobile
(i.e. wheeled) and can be designed for industrial or home applications.

This report deals with a robotic arm whose objective is to imitate the
movements of a human arm using flex sensors for the data acquisition of the
natural arm movements. The processing unit takes care of each actuator’s
control signal according to the inputs from flex sensors, in order to replicate
the movements of the human arm.

1.3 Literature Review

There are various ways in which a robotic arm may be controlled. In the past
there have been many researchers working to control robotic arm through
computer terminals, Joysticks, even interfacing them with the internet so they
can be controlled from anywhere in the world. Usually most of the robotic
arms are controlled by a central controller which makes uses of values taken
in from the terminal that are entered by the user at the terminal to move the
arm to a particular coordinates in space. This makes the control very difficult
9
as the control values of the motors are very difficult to predict to achieve a
particular movement. This is easily achieved by our project.

This Project represents a simple flex sensors controlled robotic arm using
Atmega328 powered embedded system as the core of this robot and also a
Computer to interface the robot with the sensors. The robot does not require
training because the robotic arm is fully controlled by the user. This
interfacing is done using wired communication but it can easily be switched to
wireless with ease.

OVERVIEW
In this chapter we have mentioned why a project is needed or designed and a
brief introduction of prosthetic arm controller.

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 CHAPTER 2
PROBLEM FORMULATION
2.1 Block diagram
2.2 Circuit Diagram

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2.3 Working

OVERVIEW
In this chapter the block diagram, the circuit diagram and working of the
circuit has been described.

12
 CHAPTER 3
HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION

3.1 PCB Manufacturing and Design specifications

3.1.1 PCB Designing

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The main purpose of printed circuit is in the routing of electric currents and
signal through a thin copper layer that is bounded firmly to an insulating base
material sometimes called the substrate. This base is manufactured with an
integrally bounded layer of thin copper foil, which has to be partly etched or
removed to arrive at a pre-designed pattern to suit the circuit connections, or
other applications as required.

The term printed circuit board is derived from the original method where a
printed pattern is used as the mask over wanted areas of copper. The PCB
provides an ideal baseboard upon which to assemble and hold firmly most of
the small components.

From the constructor’s point of view, the main attraction of using PCB is its
role as the mechanical support for small components. There is less need for
complicated and time consuming metal work of chassis contraception except
perhaps in providing the final enclosure. Most straight forward circuit designs
can be easily converted in to printed wiring layer the thought required to
carry out the inversion cab footed high light an possible error that would
otherwise be missed in conventional point to point wiring .The finished
project is usually neater and truly a work of art.

Actual size PCB layout for the circuit shown is drawn on the copper board. The
board is then immersed in FeCl3 solution for 12 hours. In this process only the
exposed copper portion is etched out by the solution.

Now the petrol washes out the paint and the copper layout on PCB is rubbed
with a smooth sand paper slowly and lightly such that only the oxide layers

14
over the Cu are removed. Now the holes are drilled at the respective places
according to component layout as shown in figure.

3.1.2 Layout design

When designing the layout one should observe the minimum size (component
body length and weight). Before starting to design the layout we need all the
required components in hand so that an accurate assessment of space can be
made. Other space considerations might also be included from case to case of
mounted components over the printed circuit board or to access path of
present components.

It might be necessary to turn some components around to a different angular

position so that terminals are closer to the connections of the components.
The scale can be checked by positioning the components on the squared
paper. If any connection crosses, then one can reroute to avoid such condition.

All common or earth lines should ideally be connected to a common line

routed around the perimeter of the layout. This will act as the ground plane. If
possible try to route the outer supply line to the ground plane. If possible try
to route the other supply lines around the opposite edge of the layout through
the centre. The first set is tearing the circuit to eliminate the crossover
without altering the circuit detail in any way.

15
Plan the layout looking at the topside to this board. First this should be
translated inversely, later for the etching pattern large areas are
recommended to maintain good copper adhesion. It is important to bear in
mind always that copper track width must be according to the recommended
minimum dimensions and allowance must be made for increased width where
termination holes are needed. From this aspect, it can become little tricky to
negotiate the route to connect small transistors.

There are basically two ways of copper interconnection patterns under side
the board. The first is the removal of only the amount of copper necessary to
isolate the junctions of the components to one another. The second is to make
the interconnection pattern looking more like conventional point wiring by
routing uniform width of copper from component to component.

3.1.3 Etching process

Etching process requires the use of chemicals. Acid resistant dishes and
running water supply. Ferric chloride is mostly used solution but other
etching materials such as ammonium per sulphate can be used. Nitric acid can
be used but in general it is not used due to poisonous fumes.

The pattern prepared is glued to the copper surface of the board using a latex
type of adhesive that can be cubed after use. The pattern is laid firmly on the
copper using a very sharp knife to cut round the pattern carefully to remove
the paper corresponding to the required copper pattern areas. Then apply the
resistant solution, which can be a kind of ink solution for the purpose of

16
maintaining smooth clean outlines as far as possible. While the board is
drying, test all the components.

Before going to next stage, check the whole pattern and cross check with the
circuit diagram. Check for any free metal on the copper. The etching bath
should be in a glass or enamel disc. If using crystal of ferric- chloride these
should be thoroughly dissolved in water to the proportion suggested. There
should be 0.5 lt. of water for 125 gm of crystal.

To prevent particles of copper hindering further etching, agitate the solutions

carefully by gently twisting or rocking the tray.

The board should not be left in the bath a moment longer than is needed to
remove just the right amount of copper. In spite of there being a resistive
coating there is no protection against etching away through exposed copper
edges. This leads to over etching. Have running water ready so that etched
board can be removed properly and rinsed. This will halt etching immediately.

3.1.4 Drilling

Drilling is one of those operations that call for great care. Under this operation
necessary drilling as per drawn circuit layout, is being made with suitable drill
and high speed machine. For most purposes a 0.5mm drill is used. Drill all
holes with this size first those that need to be larger can be easily drilled again
with the appropriate larger size. Drilling should always be done from copper
side in order to avoid possibility of coming out of the copper circuit and
chipping out of Bakelite.

17
3.1.5 Component Assembly

From the greatest variety of electronic components available, which runs into
thousands of different types it is often a perplexing task to know which is right
for a given job.

There could be damage such as hairline crack on PCB. If there are, then they
can be repaired by soldering a short link of bare copper wire over the affected
part.

The most popular method of holding all the items is to bring the wires far
apart after they have been inserted in the appropriate holes. This will hold the
component in position ready for soldering.

Some components will be considerably larger .So it is best to start mounting

the smallest first and progressing through to the largest. Before starting, be
certain that no further drilling is likely to be necessary because access may be
impossible later.

Next will probably be the resistor, small signal diodes or other similar size
components. Some capacitors are also very small but it would be best to fit
these afterwards. When fitting each group of components mark off each one
on the circuit as it is fitted so that if we have to leave the job we know where
to recommence.

Although transistors and integrated circuits are small items there are good
reasons for leaving the soldering of these until the last step. The main point is

18
that these components are very sensitive to heat and if subjected to prolonged
application of the soldering iron, they could be internally damaged.

All the components before mounting are rubbed with sand paper so that oxide
layer is removed from the tips. Now they are mounted according to the
component layout.

3.1.6 Soldering

This is the operation of joining the components with PCB after this operation
the circuit will be ready to use to avoid any damage or fault during this
operation following care must be taken.

1. A longer duration contact between soldering iron bit & components lead
can exceed the temperature rating of device & cause partial or total
damage of the device. Hence before soldering we must carefully read the
maximum soldering temperature & soldering time for device.
2. The wattage of soldering iron should be selected as minimum as
permissible for that soldering place.
3. To protect the devices by leakage current of iron its bit should be
earthed properly.
4. We should select the soldering wire with proper ratio of Pb & Tn to
provide the suitable melting temperature.
5. Proper amount of good quality flux must be applied on the soldering
point to avoid dry soldering.

19
PCB Layout

20
OVERVIEW
By using EAGLE software we have designed the schematic and PCB layout. The
steps involved in the process of making PCB viz., PCB design, layout design,
etching process etc. are described in this chapter.

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 CHAPTER 4
SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION
Flow Chart
Program
#include <Servo.h>
Servo myservo;
int potpin = A5;
int val;
void setup()
{
myservo.attach(10);
}
void loop()
{
val = analogRead(potpin);
val = map(val, 0, 1023, 0, 179);
if(val>70)
{
val=val+80;
myservo.write(val);
delay(15);
}
else
{
myservo.write(val);
delay(15);
}
}

OVERVIEW

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Flowchart and the program that is used for this project is described in thie
chapter.

CHAPTER 5
TOOLS USED

5.1 EAGLE
The brief description of software tool which we have used such as Arduino
and EAGLE is given in this chapter.
EAGLE (for: Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor,
German: Einfach anzuwendender grafischer Layout-Editor) by CadSoft
Computer is a flexible, expandable and scriptable EDA application with
schematic capture editor, PCB layout editor, auto-router
andCAM and BOM tools developed by CadSoft Computer GmbH, Germany,
since 1988.
General Features of EAGLE
 Maximum drawing area 64x64 inches.
 Resolution 1/10000 mm (0.1 microns).
 Grid in mm or inch.
 Easy library editing.

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  Composition of self defined libraries with already existing elements by
drag and drop.
 Free rotation of package variants.
 Library browser with powerful search function.
 Easy definition of labeled drawing frames.

Layout Editor
 Full SMD support.
 Rotation of objects in arbitrary angles.
 Components can be locked against moving.
 Text can be placed in any orientation.
 Dynamic calculation of signal lines while routing the layout.
 Tracks can be drawn with rounded corners in any radius.
 Design rule check for board layouts (checks e.g. overlaps, measures of
pads and tracks).

Schematic Editor
 Sorting sheets with drag and drop.
 Cross reference for nets.
 Automatic generation of contact cross references.
 Simple copying of parts.
 Automatic board generation.
 Automatic generation of supply signals.
 Electrical Rule Check.

Auto-router module
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  Fully integrated into basic program.
 Uses the layout’s design rules.
 Change between manual and automatic routing at any time.
 Rip-up and retry algorithm.
 User definable.
 Routing grid down to 0.02 mm.
 No placement restrictions.
 Takes into consideration various net classes.

5.2 Arduino
Arduino is an open source electronics platform accompanied with a hardware
and software to design, develop and test complex electronics prototypes and
products. The hardware consists if a microcontroller with other eletroctronic
components which can be programmed using the software to do almost any
task . the simplicity of the arduino language makes it very easy for almost
everyone who has an interest in electronics. To write programs without the
understanding of complex algorithm for codes it has especially designed
boards which can be programmed using the Arduino Programming
Language(APL)
The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is a cross-platform
applications written in java , and is derived from the IDE for the processing
programming language and the wiring project it is designed to introduce
programming to artist and other newcomers unfamiliar with software
development . It include a code editor with feature such as syntax highlighting,
brace matching, an automatic indentations, and is also capable of compiling

25
and uploading programs to the board with single click . a program or code
written for arduino is called sketch
Arduino programs written in C and C++ The Arduino IDE comes with the
software library called “Wiring” from the original wiring project , which
makes many common input output much easier . User only need to define Two
functions to make a runnable cyclic executive program.
 Setup () : a function run once at the start of a program that can initialize
setings
 Loop() : a function called repeatedly until the board power is off
A Typical program for a microcontroller simply blinks an LED ON and OFF . In
the arduino environment , the user might write the program like this
It is a feature that they have an led and load resistor connected between pin
13 and ground ; a convenient feature for many simple test the previous code
would not be seen by a standard C++ compiler as a valid program, so when the
user clicks the “ UPLOAD TO I/O BOARD “ button in the IDE , a copy of the
code is written to a temporary file with an extra include header at the top and
a very simple main() function at the bottom, to make it a valid C++ program .
The Arduino IDE uses the GNU tool change and AVR Libc to compile programs,
and users avrdude to upload program to the board .
As arduino platform uses ATMEL microcontrollers , ATMEL development
environment , AVR studio or the newer ATMEL studio, may also be used to
develop software for the Arduino.

26
 CHAPTER 6
COMPONENT DESCRIPTION

6.1 Description of components used

RESISTOR
Resistors offers a resistance to the flow of current And act as voltage droppers
or voltage dividers. They are "Passive Devices", that is they contain no source
of power or amplification but only attenuates or reduce the voltage signal
passing through them.

We mostly use resistance in this range even though more power rating high
value resistors are available (power up to 600 watt and resistor value up
to 1 giga ohm). So when you select a resistor its value and power rating
should be the deciding parameter. Therefore for high current operations we
use resistance of higher current ratings. The size of the resistor determines its
power rating (i.e. as size/thickness increases power/current carrying capacity
of resistance increases)
Types of resistors Mainly they are of two types
a. Fixed resistors
b. Variable resistors
Basic Parameters of Resistance 1 .Value (measured in ohms) 2. Power
rating (in watt) 3. Resistance Tolerance (e.g. ±1%,±2%,±5%,±10%,±15% etc.)
4. Dimensions L*B*H (used in bussed type resistors) 5. Maximum operating
voltage (in volts) 6. Operating temperature (in ± degree centigrade) 7.
Temperature coefficient (in ppm/°c) 8. Body diameter in mm (used in axial
type resistors) 9. Lead length and diameter (used in axial type resistor) 10.
Insulating resistance (≤ 1000MὨ) 11. Lead pitch (in mm) 12. Dielectric
27
strength (in volts) These are the main parameters of the resistor which that
specify a particular type resistor.

Types of resistors according to their composition

1. Carbon resistor
2. Metal film resistor
3. Wire wound
4. Semiconductor resistance

1. Carbon Resistors
Resistors are the most common type of Composition Resistors as
they are a cheap general purpose resistor. Their resistive element is
manufactured from a mixture of finely ground carbon dust or
graphite (similar to pencil lead) and a non-conducting ceramic (clay)
powder to bind it all together. The ratio of carbon to ceramic
determines the overall resistive value of the mixture and the higher
this ratio is the lower the resistance. The mixture is then moulded
into a cylindrical shape and metal wires or leads are attached to
each end to provide the electrical connection before being coated
with an outer insulating material and colour Carbon Composite
Resistors are low to medium power resistors with low inductance
which makes them ideal for high frequency applications but they
can also suffer from noise and stability when hot. Carbon composite
resistors are prefixed with a "CR" notation (e.g. CR10kΩ) and are
available in E6 (±20% tolerance (accuracy)), E12 (±10% tolerance)
and E24 (±5% & ±2% tolerance) packages with power ratings from
0.125 or 1/4 Watt up to 2 Watts.
2. Metal Film Resistors

The generic term "Film Resistor" consist of Metal Film, Carbon Film and Metal
Oxide Film resistor types, which are generally made by depositing pure metals,
such as nickel, or an oxide film, such as tin-oxide, onto an insulating ceramic rod
or substrate. The resistive value of the resistor is controlled by increasing the
desired thickness of the film and then by laser cutting a spiral helix groove type
pattern into this film. This method of manufacture allows for much closer
tolerance resistors (1% or less) as compared to the simpler carbon composition
types.
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3. Wire wound Resistors

Wire wound resistor types are prefixed with a "WH" or "W" notation (eg WH10Ω)
and are available in the WH Aluminum Cladded package (±1%, ±2%, ±5% & ±10%
tolerance) or the W Vitreous Enameled package (±1%, ±2% & ±5% tolerance) with
power ratings from 1W to 300W or more.
4. Semiconductor Resistors –

High frequency/precision surface mount thin film technology. It is the only

resistor which is active remaining all is passive.
POTENTIOMETER
A Potentiometer (colloquially known as a "pot") is a three-terminal resistor
with a sliding contact that forms an adjustable divider. If only two terminals
are used (one side and the wiper), it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat.
Potentiometers are commonly used to control electrical devices such as
volume controls on audio equipment. Potentiometers operated by a
mechanism can be used as position transducers, for example, in a joystick.

Potentiometers are rarely used to directly control significant power (more

than a watt), since the power dissipated in the potentiometer would be
comparable to the power in the controlled load (see infinite switch). Instead
they are used to adjust the level of analog signals (e.g. volume controls on
audio equipment), and as control inputs for electronic circuits. For example, a
light dimmer uses a potentiometer to control the switching of a TRIAC and so
indirectly control the brightness of lamps.

Potentiometer is mostly used as voltage divider.

CAPACITOR

A capacitor is used to store charge. Like resistors there is fixed as well as

variable capacitor also. But we mostly use fixed capacitor in robotics; variable
capacitors are mainly used in analog communication. There are capacitors
with no polarity and polarity. Ceramic and Mica capacitors available are of no-
polarity, but electrolytic capacitors are of polarity. There is a variation in their
symbols also.

29
In the above figure we can see that the different symbols for capacitors. Mica
and ceramic capacitor don't have polarity while electrolytic have polarity, so
one lead of electrolytic capacitor is bend (-ve lead). We can identify negative
lead of electrolytic capacitor by checking the length of the lead, one with less
length is -ve. On the body of electrolytic capacitor -ve symbol is shown. Be
careful about Electrolytic capacitor because inverting polarity can make
explosion' (not firing) of capacitor (sometimes it can hurt your body).

Basic Parameters of Capacitor :

1. Capacitance
2. Tolerance
3. Operating Temperature
4. Dimensions
5. Leakage current
6. Its terminals
7. Factors for classification of capacitor are Its capacitance and voltage.

TYPES OF CAPACITORS:
1. Electrolytic Capacitor

Electrolytic Capacitors are generally used when very large capacitance values
are required. Here instead of using a very thin metallic film layer for one of the
electrodes, a semi-liquid electrolyte solution in the form of a jelly or paste is
used which serves as the second electrode (usually the cathode). The
dielectric is a very thin layer of oxide which is grown electro-chemically in
production with the thickness of the film being less than ten microns. This
insulating layer is so thin that it is possible to make capacitors with a large
value of capacitance for a small physical size as the distance between the
plates, d is very small.

Electrolytic Capacitors are generally used in DC power supply circuits due to

their large capacitances and small size to help reduce the ripple voltage or for
coupling and decoupling applications. One main disadvantage of electrolytic
capacitors is their relatively low voltage rating and due to the polarization of
electrolytic capacitors, it follows then that they must not be used on AC
supplies. Electrolytic's generally come in two basic forms; Aluminum
30
Electrolytic Capacitors and Tantalum Electrolytic Capacitors. Tantalum
capacitor takes lesser space as compared to electrolytic capacitor but cost
more.

2. Ceramic capacitor:

Typical values of capacitance for an aluminum electrolytic capacitor range

from 1uF up to 47,000uF and for a tantalum capacitor range from 47nF to
470uF. Mica Capacitors These are available in the values of typically less than
0.1uF capacitance. They are extremely shock resistant, include a high dV/dt
rating, and maintain their capacitance over a very wide temperature range.
Because of these desirable characteristics, mica capacitors can be used in
high-power, high-current RF broadcast transmitters, defense electronics (jet
aircraft, missiles, etc.), and also in power conversion circuits for low-
capacitance snubber applications. These capacitors are found in radio/TV
transmitters, cable TV amplifiers, avionics, and high-voltage inverter circuits.
Specific characteristics that should be considered when choosing the
appropriate mica capacitor include rated voltage (VDC), Peak RMS Voltage
(Vrms), and Case/Package Type.

Note: - there is a formula to calculate the value of the ceramic capacitor

which is shown in the following figure.

Important Things about Capacitor:

Capacitances vary from 22pF to about 15000uF. Values <.1uF are mainly mica
and ceramic capacitors and C>=1uF are electrolytic capacitors. See the
maximum voltage ratings of capacitor when you select electrolytic capacitors.
Electrolytic capacitor ‗explodes' when you invert polarity of capacitor and
applying voltage about maximum rated voltage. When you see circuit, be
careful about the symbols of capacitor used to choose which one you require
(Electrolytic or ceramic).

3. Tantalum capacitor:-

These are also the like electrolytic capacitor but they are highly reliable. Its
surface is mounted with tantalum. These type have low leakage and great
capacitance.
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4. Trimmer: - Trimmer capacitors are the variable capacitor.

5. Polypropylene:- Ideal for use in power semiconductor circuits to suppress

or attenuate undesired voltages peak.

6. Polyester:- These type of capacitor has high tolerance and these types of
capacitors are used in blocking, bypassing, filtering, coupling and decoupling,
interference suppression in low voltage circuit

7. Polystyrene:- These capacitors has high stability and low loss

characteristics.

8. Electrical capacitor:- Aluminum electrolytic motor start capacitors,

housed in a mounded polycarbonate case. These types of the capacitor are
suitable for small and medium size electric motors.

POWER SUPPLY

We require DC supply for our circuits which should be obtained from 230V,
50Hz AC line. There is two way to get DC supply, one from DC battery and
second from adapter or SMPS. Normally we use adapter for our circuits. When
you go for troubleshooting power supply is another headache in robotics after
sensor problems. The best way to avoid this problem is to use one SMPS
instead of adapter. Normally adapters available for 12V, 500mA ratings. With
that you can run DC motors. For beginners this 12V, 500mA adapter is
enough, but better you try to get a second hand SMPS.
The main thing you have to note when you buy one adapter is that 1) it should
have variable shaft to get voltages from 3 to 12V. 2) It should be of a good
company. 3) The light (LED) of adapter should be good

My adapter is a 3V to 12V variable adapter, 500mA. There is one LED over the
adapter. This LED will be useful when you troubleshoot circuits to detect
short circuits, overload detection etc... But some adapter's LED won't be able
to detect short circuits. I have a Panasonic adapter (black color) which is able
to detect short ckt, but my friend has Panasonic adapter (White in color)
which is not able to detect short circuit, overload detection. Suppose if you
short circuit +ve and -ve of adapter the LED will OFF, if some overload
32
comes then the brightness of the LED decreases which will be helpful in
troubleshooting. But better acquire an SMPS which will become shut down
when short circuit occurs. If you have an SMPS then no problems with power
supply occurs, better not to use the output of adapter of your Computer, buy
one second hand SMPS even though it is of a 486 computer. But when you are
making robots for competition in which robots run on battery, you should be
careful because power supply problem also creates and your robots won't
acquire the desired speed. If you are using SMPS and replace SMPS with
battery in robots, you won't be getting better speeds because SMPS have good
current driving capability while battery won't have it. Even SMPS of Pentium1
systems have a power capability of about 40W. Here is the adaptor, the one
which my friend has. I got it from Google images. This adaptor is good except
the LED of the adapter won't show any short circuit identification, overload by
diminishing light. I am having a black color one of same company.

NOTE: use separate power supply for the controlling

Circuit (microcontrollers, power transistor, sensors etc..) and motor circuit

because motor will always draw current and the controlling circuit won't get
enough power for its working. You will mostly get a 9V battery for Rs.15. Buy
three and use one 9V for the controlling circuit, other two 9v for motor
driving. Use 78xx voltage regulators to get 5V, 12V, 24V etc...
SERVO MOTOR

The servo motor is actually an assembly of four things: a normal DC motor, a

gear reduction unit, a position-sensing device (usually a potentiometer—a
volume control knob), and a control circuit.

The shaft typically does not rotate freely round and round like a DC motor, but
rather can only turn 200 degrees or so back and forth. The servo has a 3 wire
connection: power, ground, and control. The power source must be constantly
applied; the servo has its own drive electronics that draw current from the
power lead to drive the motor. The control signal is pulse width modulated
(PWM), but here the duration of the positive-going pulse determines the
position of the servo shaft. For instance, a 1.520 millisecond pulse is the
center position for a Futaba S148 servo. A longer pulse makes the servo turn
to a clockwise-from-center position, and a shorter pulse makes the servo turn
to a counter-clockwise-from-center position. The servo control pulse is
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repeated every 20 milliseconds. In essence, every 20 milliseconds you are
telling the servo, ―go here.‖
APPLICATION OF SERVO
1. RC Engine car
2. RC Planes/Heli for controlling aileron, rudder ,elevator
3. Robotics
4. Wireless controlling of engines, speed control, automation, telemetry

FLEX SENSORS

Flex sensors are sensors that change in resistance depending how much the
sensor is bend. Sensors convert the change in bend to electrical resistance -
the more the sensor bend, the higher the resistance value.
.

FIGURE 5:FLEX SENSOR

The bend sensor consists of a coated substrate, such as plastic, that changes in
electrical conductivity as it is bent. This provides non-mechanical reliability in
electronic sensing and actuator technology.On top of this polymer is a layer of
carbon that forms a resistor (which connects between the two metal terminals
on the left side).On top of the carbon are equally sized and spaced squares of
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metal which are glued in place at their centers to the backplane. When the
device is bent the spaces between the metal plates grows larger and thus the
amount of carbon resistor shorted out by each metal square is reduced. When
that happens the resistance of the sensor goes up. The response of the sensor
is very linear over its flexible range. The sensor can only reliably indicate
bending in one direction.

Mechanical Specifications:
-Life Cycle: >1 million
-Height: 0.43mm (0.017")
-Temperature Range: -35°C to +80°C

Electrical Specification:
-Flat Resistance: 25K Ohms
-Resistance Tolerance: ±30%
-Bend Resistance Range: 45K to 125K Ohms
(depending on bend radius)
-Power Rating : 0.50 Watts continuous. 1 Watt Peak

6.2 Price of components

Name of Quantity Rating Price(Rs)

components

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ATMEGA328 1

Flex sensor 1 650

Servo motor 1 450

Crystal 1 16 MHz 20
oscillator

IC 7805 1 20

POT 1 10

PCB 1 50

Electrolytic 2 1000 20
Capacitor microfarad

Ceramic 2 33 picofarad 2
Capacitor

1 104 farad 1

Bridge rectifier 1 20

OVERVIEW

36
The basic components used in project are described in this chapter and the
approximate price list of each component is also mentioned.

CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION

7.1 Problems Encountered

7.1.1 INTERFACED ISSUES ENCOUNTERED WITH THE SOFTWARE

1.COMMON CODING ERRORS:

 Forgetting the semi-colon at the end of a statement
 Misspelling a command
 Omitting opening or closing braces

Thus, if there is a syntax error in the program caused by a mistake in typing,

an error message will appear in the bottom of the program window.

TROUBLE SHOOT:
Generally, staring at the error will reveal the problem. If we continue to have
problems, we should try these ideas:
 Running the Arduino program again.
 Checking that the USB cable is secure at both ends.
 Rebooting our PC because sometimes the serial port can lock up. If a “Serial
port…already in use” error appears when uploading.

2. ERRORS ABOUT UNDECLARED FUNCTIONS OR UNDECLARED TYPES:

CAUSE : The Arduino environment attempts to automatically generate
prototypes for our functions, so that we can order them as we like in our

37
sketch. This process, however, isn't perfect, and sometimes leads to obscure
error messages.

If we declare a custom type in our code and create a function that accepts or
returns a value of that type, we'll get an error when we try to compile the
sketch. This is because the automatically-generated prototype for that
function will appear above the type definition.

TROUBLESHOOT:
If we declared a function with a two-word return type (e.g. "unsigned int") the
environment would not realize it's a function and would not create a
prototype for it. That meant we needed to provide our own, or place the
definition of the function above any calls to it.

7.1.2 INTERFACED ISSUES ENCOUNTERED WITH THE HARDWARE

1. FINGERS WERE NOT MOVING PROPERLY

CAUSE:
While it was not moving, a noise from the servo was a steady “whirring”
sound. May be we have applied too much force to the servo and stripped the
internal gears.
TROUBLE SHOOT :
1. We reset the Arduino as we were using one power source. Then Checked
our power supply. Checked whether it was connected or not, Then checked
whether it supplying at least 3.5 volts that minimum servo controller’s
recommended voltage or not.
2. Double checked our servo controller. Checked whether it was receiving /
sending signals appropriately or not. Then we tried plugging a loose, new
servo into the same port to test..
3. Inside the micro servo the motor is grinding plastic against plastic. After the
proper testing we considered it as the main reason behind the problem we
encountered . That’s why we tried SG90 servos of metallic gear instead.
4. Slight adjustments in the servo mounting holes may be necessary. This
modification would void the warranty but may help your particular situation.

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7.2 Limitations
 Use of Flex sensor is not cost effective
 Couldn’t deal with the servo motor

7.3 Future Enhancement

The project will be built on a wired model. It could further be developed to
work on wireless communication, thus allowing the user to move in an even
easier unrestricted manner. A clamper can be connected on the motor M6
which will allow the movements of the palm and allow picking and placing of
objects. Currently the accelerometer signal is being processed via a digital
computer; this could be eliminated by using a fast microprocessor such as
ARMv7, etc. It is
also be possible to eliminate the ATmega32 altogether when ARMv7 is being
used. The microprocessor could take the input from the accelerometer and
smoothen it and then generate the corresponding PWM signal itself to actuate
the servo motors.

APPENDIX

REFERENCES
 http://www.electrical4u.com/servo-motor-
servo-mechanism-theory-and-working-
principle/

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 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10264
 http://www.atmel.com/images/Atmel-8271-
8-bit-AVR-Microcontroller-ATmega48A-48PA-
88A-88PA-168A-168PA-328-
328P_datasheet_Complete.pdf
 http://www.engineersgarage.com/electronic-
components/7805-voltage-regulator-ic
 http://www.mouser.com/pdfdocs/Gravitech_
ATMEGA328_datasheet.pdf
 http://www.soltc.org/persistent/WEB/newsle
tters/ATMEGA328.pdf


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