BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering, Architecture & Fine Arts

Alangilan, Batangas City

Project: BoBot- Micro Servo Automated Robotic Arm

ICE 406: Control System Engineering

Group 9
A.jr Flojo, A.L Franco, C.J. Ophiar, T.jr Samboa
College of Engineering, Architecture and Fine Arts
Mechatronics Engineering Department
arbuesflojo@gmail.com carljephone@gmail.com Ayelawrence25@gmail.com
teo.samboa1998@gmail.com

Abstract
The project involves pick and place
system to stack boxes with tension for the
robot arm. This robotic arm is design for
playing the games by controlling it in a
certain distance.
In this project the main objective is
to pick a playing chip with a gripper and
place it to the playing board. In this system
the robot is fitted with four servo motor. A
four potentiometer and a Nano Arduino is
use to control all the operations. It moves
the arm in all direction with in the axis. The
final design was develop and result of
studying, research on related reference and
design testing.
1. Introduction
The term robot comes from the
Chezh word robota, generally translated as
“forced labor”, this describes the majority of
robots fairly well. Most robots in the word
are designed for heavy, difficulty, dangerous
to human being. A robotic arm is an
automatic or virtually intelligent agent that
can carry out task robotically or with some
supervision, typically with the aid of
controller.
This project report paper shows the
prototype design of a micro servo automated
robotic arm including the construction and
its functionality. The projects objective is to
build a prototype that can do what the user
want in real-time. The group is aiming the
accuracy and efficiency of the project. There
are more things that we need to consider like
reading and researching for further
knowledge like the advantages and
disadvantages, characteristic of servo motor
and how to operate it, variable resistor,
Nano Arduino and its programing, to be able
to understand and design the prototype. The
group used 20k potentiometer to meet and
achieve the main objective of the project.
The group also use a 9 volts’ power supply,
2 ampere supply for the Nano Arduino and
for the servo motors.
2.THEORETICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
The theoretical background of the project is
examined below as main headings and
subheadings.
2.1. Servo Motors
Servo; Detects the operation error of a
mechanism, provides feedback and corrects
faults. The servo motor can have alternating
current (AC), direct current (DC) or stepper
motors. In addition to these, there are drive
and control circuits. Servo motors are the
kinds of motors that can fulfill the
commands we want. They can operate
steadily even at very small or very large
speeds. In these motors, the large moment
can be obtained from the small size. Servo
motors are used in control systems such as
fast operation, excessive axis
movement, condition control and so on.
Servo motors are the last control element of
a mechanism. They are highly sensitive and
servo motors are used in conjunction with
electronic or programmable circuits. These
engines are divided into AC and DC. When
the AC servo motors are brushless type
motors, the servo motors brush. Servo
motors are mostly three cables. These are a
red cable for power, black for grounding and
yellow cables for control (data, data). One of
the servomotors used in the production
phase of the project is shown in Fig.1.
Figure 1DC servo motor
In the project Tower, Pro SG90 Mini servo
motor is used. Some features of this servo
motor; versatile operation, 10 μs pulse width
control, VP-P: 3-5 V Square wave and
working voltage of 4.8-6V. The used
servomotor has a working voltage of 0.12 s /
60 ° and a torque of 1.2-1.6 kg/cm at low
operating voltage. Servo motors are
controlled according to the signal condition.
In doing so, the supplied pulse width
modulated (PWM) signal is used with the
data bus. Each servo motor is controlled by
a PWM signal at 10-20 ms and at 0.5-1.5
ms.the position of the motor shaft is
determined according to the duration (tk) of
this signal at logic 1.
These;
When tk = 0.5 ms, the motor shaft rotates
to the end,
When tk= 0,5- 1 ms, the position of the
motor shaft is in the middle,
When tk= 1 - 1.5 ms, the motor shaft
turns to the right,
When tk= 10-20 ms (when the same
signal is given again) it remains in its old
position,
The position control of these motors is
determined using the required pulses. The
servo motors DC used in the project are kept
at about 5V during operation.
2.2. Potentiometer
Potentiometers consist of a resistive
element, a sliding contact (wiper) that
moves along the element, making good
electrical contact with one part of it,
electrical terminals at each end of the
element, a mechanism that moves the wiper
from one end to the other, and a housing
containing the element and wiper.
The resistive element of inexpensive
potentiometers is often made of graphite.
Other materials used include resistance wire,
carbon particles in plastic, and a
ceramic/metal mixture called cermet.
Conductive track potentiometers use
conductive polymer resistor pastes that
contain hard-wearing resins and polymers,
solvents, and lubricant, in addition to the
carbon that provides the conductive
properties. Multi-turn potentiometers are
also operated by rotating a shaft, but by
several turns rather than less than a full turn.
Some multi-turn potentiometers have a
linear resistive element with a sliding
contact moved by a lead screw; others have
a helical resistive element and a wiper that
turns through 10, 20, or more complete
revolutions, moving along the helix as it
rotates. Multi-turn potentiometers, both
user-accessible and preset, allow finer
adjustments; rotation through the same angle
changes the setting by typically a tenth as
much as for a simple rotary potentiometer.
User-accessible rotary potentiometers can be
fitted with a switch which operates usually
at the anti-clockwise extreme of rotation.
Before digital electronics became the norm
such a component was used to allow radio
and television receivers and other equipment
to be switched on at minimum volume with
an audible click, then the volume increased,
by turning a knob. Multiple resistance
elements can be ganged together with their
sliding contacts on the same shaft, for
example, in stereo audio amplifiers for
volume control. In other applications, such
as domestic light dimmers, the normal usage
pattern is best satisfied if the potentiometer
remains set at its current position, so the
switch is operated by a push action,
alternately on and off, by axial presses of the
knob.
  Programs written in Arduino can
run fast because they are not run on any
other platform.

 There is a lot of hardware support

that is compatible with Arduino and can
work together.

 Communication with the

environment is easy because it is open
source.

 If there are any problems due to a

Potentiometer
large number of Arduino users, the solution
can be easily reached.
2.3. Arduino Uno Microcontroller
Although microcontroller type PIC is
usually used in programming and software
field, Arduino has become very popular in
the world in recent times. It is based on
Arduino's past wiring and processing
projects. Processing is written for no
programming users. Arduino wiring is
produced on the basis of the programming
language. The common feature of both is
that it provides an environment where even Arduino Uno
the basic knowledge of electronics and
programming can easily design. Arduino is
now becoming more and more common Arduino Uno microcontroller used in
nowadays. Even unmanned aerial vehicles the project The Arduino Uno is a
made with Arduino, which is used almost microcontroller board based on the
every field, are visible. The causes of the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital input/output
spread of Arduino at such a rapid rate are;  pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM
It can be used on all platforms due to the outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz
simplicity of the development environment crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an
with driver usage. ICSP header and a reset button. It contains
everything needed to support the
 With the help of the advanced microcontroller; simply connect it to a
library, even complex operations can be computer with a USB cable or power it with
easily solved. a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.
You can tinker with your UNO without
worrying too much about doing something
wrong, worst case scenario you can replace
the chip for a few dollars and start over
again.

"Uno" means one in Italian and was

chosen to mark the release of Arduino
Software (IDE) 1.0. The Uno board and
version 1.0 of Arduino Software (IDE) were
the reference versions of Arduino, now
evolved to newer releases. The Uno board is
the first in a series of USB Arduino boards,
and the reference model for the Arduino
platform; for an extensive list of current,
past or outdated boards see the Arduino
index of boards.
2.4. Circuit Diagram (Above Board)
Circuit; Servo inputs, Arduino pin inputs,
and Potentiometer inputs. Servo motors are
activated in this way. Thanks to this circuit
we use, it is possible to distribute the 5V
from the power supply to the servo motors.
The circuit image is shown.
Circuit Diagram
2.5. Power
The power supply selected for
feeding the control circuit of the
servomotors is capable of delivering the
same current even if all the synchronous
servomotors are operating. When all servo
motors are operated at the same time, they
draw 0.5A current. In addition, 5 V was
needed for the Arduino used for robot
movement in the project. This requirement
is provided by a 5V power supply.
3. ROBOT ARM MECHANICS

3.1. General Characteristics of Robot

Arm Mechanics
Kinematics in robotics is the science of
motion investigation. Robot arm links can
be rotated or offset according to the
reference coordinate frame. A systematic
and general approach developed by Denavit
and Hartenberg establishes the relationship
between the robot endpoint and the total
displacement of robot arm links (1). Angular
and linear displacements between limbs are
called joint coordinates and are defined by
limb variables. In order to determine the
amount of rotation and displacement
according to the reference coordinate system
of the endpoint, the matrices A which
represent the amounts of each limb rotation
and displacement are multiplied in turn. If
the coordinates of the end point are given, p=pi+pj+pkxyz The vector of
limb variables can be obtained by going the origin of the new frame,
backward. These operations are called x=xi+xj+xkxyz The contour
forward and inverse kinematics. The next vector of the x-axis of the new frame,
section will explain how to determine
forward and reverse kinematics. The general y=yi+yj+ykxyz The contour
transformation matrix can be quite complex vector of the y-axis of the new frame,
even for simple robots. It can be found in z = z i + z j + z k x y z Represents the
standard textbooks such as the Jacobian contouring vector of the z-axis of the new
matrix for standard robots (2) and (3). frame.
Coordinate Frames and Transformation Column 4 of the transformation matrix has 3
Matrices for a General Robot Arm elements corresponding to displacement in
An n-dimensional position vector is denoted the x, y, and z directions.
by an n + 1-dimensional vector and is called
a homogeneous coordinate representation. In
the following, a matrix of 4 X 4 is shown
which shows a position vector in the
homogeneous coordinates between the
coordinate frames (4). If any of the 3 coordinate axes is possible to
rotate, there are 3 rotational transforms
corresponding to the rotations in the x, y,
and z-axes up to the q angle. The following
matrix can be written for x-axis;

The matrices representing only the
revolutions around the y and z-axes can be
written in a similar manner.
The elements of the transformation matrix
can be found by the arithmetic
multiplication of pure rotation and
displacement matrices. This can be obtained
by a sequence of rotations about the axes of
the stationary reference frame if the
orientation is desired according to the
reference frame of the Cartesian space
endpoint. Although there are many ways to
do this, one of the best known is the "roll-
pitch-yaw" transformation. 3 turns. First turn
around the x-axis, then y and then around
the z-axis.
Kinematics in robotics is the science of
motion investigation. The robot examines
the positions of the limb limbs, the
relationships between velocities and
accelerations, ignoring forces and other
factors that affect movement.
Figure 5 Serial robot arm with n lines showing relative
angles
The position and orientation of one of the
limbs, or the orientation of the limbs
between this limb and the end point, will
change when the serial limb robot arm is
shown in Fig. When the positions and
orientations of the limbs change, it is
generally desirable to determine the position
and orientation of the end point according to
the basic reference frame.
When each mobile station is connected to a
coordinate frame, the transformation
between both limbs can be defined by a
homogeneous transformation matrix, called
the matrix A. For example, the first limb is
connected to the base frame by 0A1, which
is the matrix 1.A. The transformation matrix
RTH of the end point can be expressed
according to the reference frame by the
arithmetic product of matrices A from the
matrices 1.A of the matrices A to the matrix
A of the endpoints. Figure 6D & H parameters

Ln: the length of the limb is the distance

along the common normal between the axes
When this equation is in closed form, any
of the joints. Z and Zi-1.
term can be expressed by another and is very
important in the kinematic analysis of the
robot arm. Because the robot is used to
i: is the positive angle of rotation about
analyze the forward and inverse kinematics
the positive X-axis from the positive Zi-1
of the arm.
axis to the positive Zi axis.
3.2. D & H (Denavit and Hartenberg)
Өi: The positive angle of rotation about
Coordinate Frames
the positive Zi-1 axis from the positive Xi-1
axis to the positive Zi axis. Di is the distance
to the intersection of the Zi-1 and xi axes
The distances between the limbs and the
along the Xi-1 axis from the origin of the
displacements are called the joint
first coordinate frame.
coordinates defined by limb variables. A
series of n articulated limb robots with one Some of the structural parameters may
DOF for each limb has n + 1 joints. Using change over time during robot arm
the D & H parameters, any nonlinear limb, movements. These parameters are called
as shown in Figure 6, can be characterized changing parameters, e.g.Өi, I angle in the
by structural kinematic limb parameters (5); rotary joint, joint variables.

3.3. Advanced Mechanics

The definition of joint space of a robot arm
can be related to the definition of Cartesian
space. That is, the position and orientation
of the endpoint for a given set of joint
variables can be determined in Cartesian
coordinates. This process is known as
forwarding kinematics. Advanced
kinematics is the discovery of the RTH
transformation matrix, which gives the
position and orientation of the end point
using the matrices we have already
mentioned. The RTH transformation matrix
can also be obtained by multiplying by the
general displacement matrix and the
orientation transform matrix of the RPY
axes.
demonstrates a close loop system. It also
specifically seeks the following objectives:
 To design a robotic arm for
picking and placing or stack
boxes that demonstrates a
close loop system.
 To construct a robotic arm
using servo motors,
microcontroller.
 To test and evaluate the
functionality of the system
control.

3. Materials and Methodology

The materials and methodology used
and applied by the researchers in the
designing and developing the project are
3.4. Inverse Mechanics covered in this section.

3.1 Materials
For an endpoint position and orientation Table 1 shows the materials, quantity and
given in Cartesian coordinates, the process
priced used by the researchers in making the
of finding the values that the joint variables
must take is called inverse kinematics. robotic arm.
Reverse kinematics can be difficult to solve
according to the advanced kinematics. In MATERIALS QNTY PRICE
many cases, it is necessary to use techniques
Arduino Uno 1 Php400.00
that do not guarantee a solution and include
trial and error.
Micro servo 4 Php712.00

Potentiometer 4 Php80.00

Connecting
2. Objectives 1 bundle Php118.00
Wires
The main goal of this project is to
design and develop a project which shows or
 Mini Breadboard 1 Php30.00 accurate shaft movement or position. Servo
motors are proposed for low speed, medium
Popsicle sticks 1 bundle Php35.00 torque and accurate position application.

Table 1 1. Study different literatures

related to servo arm system.
Research for similar or
related projects and how to
create the project to identify
the design and material
requirements for the servo
arm.
2. Create a sketch design of the
project.
3. Search a schematic diagram
for the electronic parts of the
project.

3.2 Methodology

POWER
SOURCE

Figure 2 Wiring Diagram

POT 1 SERVO 1
4. Canvass for the materials,
POT 2 and buy all the necessary
ARDUINO SERVO 2 components for the project.
NANO
5. Create a flow chart on how
POT 3 the project will work.
SERVO 3 6. Start building the project.

POT 4
SERVO 4

Figure 1 Block Diagram

Block diagram representing the robotic arm,
the components here used are Arduino Uno
board, micro servo, 20k pot variable resistor.
Now talking about servo motors they are
excessively used when there is a need for an
7. Prepare or find a base for the
project.

Figure 4
10. Repeat procedures 8 and 9
until you make nine set and
set aside these Popsicle
sticks.
11. Connect wires at the pins of
the potentiometer.
Figure 2
8. Cut Popsicle sticks to make it
as arm of the project.

Figure 5
12. Paste the potentiometer on
the two Popsicle sticks.
Figure 3 Follow the design of the
9. Paste together three cut project in pasting it using
Popsicle sticks to make it glue stick.
strong.
 18. Assemble the servo arm in
the prepared base.

Figure 6
13. Insert the control shaft of the
potentiometer to the drilled
hole in Popsicle stick.
14. Put some glue to hold the
Figure 8
inserted shaft.
19. Do a research and look for
15. Repeat procedure 13 and 14
available codes online.
for another set.
20. Transfer the researched code
16. Paste servo motors in
to the Arduino. Check for the
Popsicle sticks, the same
codes functionality
pattern with the pasted
(compliable).
potentiometer (arm design).
21. Test if the project works.
22. Troubleshoot and change
components in the diagram if
necessary.
23. Gather data from the project
and make some observations.

3.3 Arduino Program

The Arduino code used to set the

input and output parameters. The
potentiometer serves as the input and servo
serves as the output. Potentiometer generate
Figure 7
17. Connect wirings into the Analog signal, Arduino takes this analog
breadboard. signal as an input & process and generate
PWM output, Servo takes this PWM signal
as input and moves accordingly. Wire
potentiometer and servo as shown in figure.

Use thin copper wire for wiring.

Tower pro 9g servo motor works fine on 5V

DC supply this servo so smooth generate
excellent torque very nice performance

Arrange external 5V DC source, connect

positive and negative wire of each servo
respectively to 5V & GND of external
source & signal wire to respective PWM pin
of Arduino board (M1=6, M2=9, M3=10,
M4=11)

Potentiometer have three terminals: - +VE,

GND, OUT (middle one)

Servo motor have three terminals: -

+5V(red), GND(brown), SIGNAL(orange)
4. Transfer function and Graphs

Armature Controlled DC Motor

Obtain Equation for IA

Obtain Equation for Torque TM


Obtain Equation for Angular Velocity
Obtain Equation for back emf Eb
Obtain Equation for angular displacement
5. Block Diagram
The input in the system is the Voltage from
the source. The output of the system will be
the angle of displacement of the servo
motor.
The system input has input of Vin that will
enter summing junction and Eb is the
voltage required with the servo, this
summing operation will give 1/(Ra+LaS)
that will change because of the current Ia in
the motor that will give Kt that will have an
equivalent torque of the motor then will give
an initial output of w(s) which is not the
required or correct output of motor. Kb will
be the feedback of the system that will be
added or subtracted from the system
depending on the initial output, if the initial
output overshoot then Kb will be subtracted
and don’t reach the output it will be added to
the system to get the right output which is
angle of displacement of the servo motor.
 7. Conclusion and Recommendation

As we conducted this project, the group

understood how feedback helps the system
to attain its goal or objective. The project of
demonstrating a close loop system was
successfully made through a robotic arm that
can be used in picking and placing a stack of
boxes. It was made not just for playing, it
can also be used as pick and place robot.
The group also built the robot using servo
motors as joints and Arduino Uno as the
controller. Testing the project helps us to

6. Final Output further understand the characteristic of

Servo motors and Potentiometers. As we
gather data on testing, we used it to
determine the best components that we can
use to attain the objective of a real-time
robot.

The group recommends that the other

researchers must understand how the
potentiometer and servo motor works. Also,
knowledge in coding languages is a must.
The length of links can affect the
performance of the robot, the longer the
link, the higher vibration it has. The
researchers should use cheap materials since
the only important for this kind of project is
the functionality of the prototype.

8. References
https://www.instructables.com/id/Servo-
Robotic-Arm-Arduino-Based/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXHy2
rofr6s

http://www.chettinadtech.ac.in/storage/14-
03-10/14-03-10-16-39-31-2429-
elamurugan.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31
7277584_ROBOT_ARM_CONTROL_WIT
H_ARDUINO

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Muham
mad-sheraz/make-a-simple-robotic-arm-
using-servo-motor-911f9f

https://www.academia.edu/10256640/_Nor
man_S._Nise_Control_Systems_Engineerin
g_6th_Book_Fi_org_