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A LabVIEW module to promote undergraduate research in control of AC servo

motors of robotics manipulator

Article  in  Computer Applications in Engineering Education · January 2020

DOI: 10.1002/cae.22180

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Samer Yahya Mahmoud Moghavvemi

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Received: 20 September 2018 | Accepted: 19 May 2019

DOI: 10.1002/cae.22180

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A LabVIEW module to promote undergraduate research in

control of AC servo motors of robotics manipulator

Samer Yahya1 | Mahmoud Moghavvemi2,3 | Haider A. F. Almurib4 |

1
Hussain Al‐Rizzo

1
Department of Systems Engineering,
George W. Donaghey College of Abstract
Engineering and Information Technology, This paper presents a project‐based learning pedagogy for undergraduate
University of Arkansas, Little Rock,
mechanical engineering students which integrates traditional hardware‐based
Arkansas
2 laboratory with LabVIEW to control the angular position, velocity, and
Department of Electrical Engineering,
CRAE, University of Malaya, Malaysia acceleration of AC servo motors of a six‐degree of freedom manipulator. The
3
Department of Electrical Engineering, proposed experimental modules have been proved to be very effective in
University of Science and Culture, assisting teams of undergraduate students within the Department of Mechan-
Tehran, Iran
4
ical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham,
Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, who have used the modules in designing a new mechanical
Malaysia Campus, Kuala Lumpur, structure of a robot during their capstone design project. The proposed
Malaysia
pedagogy inspired undergraduate students to publish their first paper based on
Correspondence the outcomes of their project. The focus on this paper is to present how the
Samer Yahya, Department of Systems students’ learning experience has been significantly enforced and their role in
Engineering, George W. Donaghey
College of Engineering and Information
developing the modules introduced in this paper. Three modules are presented;
Technology, University of Arkansas, Little the first configures a timer to generate a signal that drives the servo motors. The
Rock, AR 72204‐1099. second drives the servo motor to a specific angular position with a constant
Email: syhadi@ualr.edu
angular velocity. Finally, the third is used to control the servo motor to follow
any desired angular position, velocity, and acceleration.

KEYWORDS
AC servo motors, LabVIEW, simulation

1 | INTRODUCTION solving skills, communication skills, teamwork skills,

Computer‐aided design educational tools have recently
gained popularity with successful implementation in
many areas including robotics, which is the subject of
this paper [1,3,5,14,17,18]. These tools are aimed at
helping students to visualize the concepts by providing
graphical feedback during the learning process [7].
Robotics in education is considered as an interdisci-
plinary, project‐based learning activity drawing mostly on
mathematics, science, and engineering technology offer-
ing several avenues in education at all levels
[2,8,11,15,16]. Robotics education can foster problem‐
Comput Appl Eng Educ. 2019;1–15.
independence, imagination, and creativity [20].
Moreover, to comply with the ABET accreditation
requirements, graduates must be equipped with inte-
grated technical/professional skills and competencies to
solve complex and ill‐structured industrial problems. The
most appropriate course to instill and assess these skills is
the capstone project which is focused on and centered on
industry practice [10].
Traditional hardware‐based design paradigms are
expensive and time‐consuming, while theoretical study
can be overwhelmingly difficult to introduce in the
upper‐level undergraduate curriculum. With the proper
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 1
2 | YAHYA ET AL.

introduction of fundamental concepts, laboratory work the problems arising with kinematic singularities and
can become productive when integrated with CAD, such manipulator redundancy [6].
as LabVIEW as proposed by many scholars in engineer- Since controlling DC servo motors is easier than AC
ing education programs [23]. servo motors, many efforts have been paid by researchers
National Instruments LabVIEW is a graphical pro- to design models to control DC motors. This paper shows
gramming language that is heavily used in automation how students and instructors collaborated to develop
control and data acquisition. Its graphical representation flexible LabVIEW modules to control AC servo motors.
was created to provide an intuitive programming The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The
environment for scientists and engineers. LabVIEW has kinematics of the manipulator is presented in Section 2.
several key features which inspires us to adopt in our Section 3 reported the trajectory planning calculations. In
automation environment. Section 4, step by step LabVIEW modules structure is
Servo motors are rapidly replacing conventional ones. explained. The simulation results are shown in Section 5.
The introduction of servo motors has increased the Finally, the paper is concluded in Section 6.
importance of transient motion analysis, which is
becoming increasingly important and critical in the
design of automated machines and robots [4]. The 2 | PRERE QU IS I TE KNOW LED G E
characteristics of the electrical servo systems are sum-
marized as high servo response and noise suppression, Before delving into the modules’ development, traditional
high overload capability, wide speed range, and good fundamental knowledge is necessary for the students
smoothness of movement at very low speeds. To date, which covers how to determine the kinematics of a robot
DC servo motors have been widely used in and how to choose and calculate a trajectory planning to
obtaining such characteristics, which, however, have the task.
some disadvantages, such as mechanical commuta-
tion, regular maintenance due to brush wear, and the
losses in the rotor [12]. On the other hand, AC servo
2.1 | The kinematics of the manipulator
motors have been extensively employed in various The manipulator used to calculate the transformation
control systems, such as robot’s actuator, machining matrix of the manipulator is shown in Figure 1. The
center, computer numerical control, machine, and corresponding link parameters of the manipulator are
precise robot. Because of their favorable electrical and shown in Table 1, where l1, l2, …,l5 are the length of the
mechanical properties, good dynamics, and a high links, while d1 is the offset between the origin and the
efficiency, AC servo system is requested to have an end‐effector. Structure details concerning the manipula-
accurate response for the position reference and a tor used are reported in [21].
quick recovery for the external disturbances or load The individual transformations for each link as seen
variations [9,13]. in Figure 1 are computed using the parameters depicted
The problem posed to the students concerns the in Table 1 using (1) below which defines the matrix T for
trajectory planning problem in robotics defined as the links [19]
find a motion law along a given geometric path, taking
into account some predefined requirements, so as to ⎡ cos θi − sin θi cos αi sin θi sin αi ai cos θi ⎤
⎢ ⎥
sin θi cos θi cos αi − cos θi sin αi ai sin θi ⎥
be able to generate suitable reference inputs for the i −1
Ti = ⎢ , (1)
control system of the manipulator. The inputs of the ⎢ 0 sin αi cos αi di ⎥
⎢⎣ 0 0 0 1 ⎥⎦
trajectory planning are as follows: the geometric path,
the kinematic, and dynamic constraints, while the
where ci = cos(θi) and si = sin(θi) and θ is the angular
output is the trajectory of the joints (or of the end‐
position of any joint
effector), expressed as a time sequence of position,
velocity, and acceleration values.
⎡ c1 0 s1 0⎤ ⎡ c 2 − s2 0 l1 c2 ⎤
Another focus of the project is the planning of a ⎢s ⎢ ⎥
0 − c1 0⎥ s c 0 l1 s2 ⎥
trajectory in the joint space rather than in the 0
T1 = ⎢ 1 ⎥, 1
T2 = ⎢ 2 2 ,
operating space which has a major advantage, namely ⎢0 1 0 0⎥ ⎢0 0 1 d1 ⎥
⎣0 0 0 1⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 0 0 1 ⎥⎦
that the control system acts on the manipulator joints
rather than on the end‐effector, hence, it would be ⎡ c3 −s3 0 l2 c3 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
easier to adjust the trajectory according to the design 2
T 3 = ⎢ s3 c3 0 l2 s3 ⎥ (2)
requirements if working in the joint space. Moreover, ⎢0 0 1 0 ⎥
trajectory planning in the joint space allows avoiding ⎣0 0 0 1 ⎦
YAHYA ET AL. | 3

FIGURE 1 The manipulator used in experiments [21]

⎡ r11 r12 r13 px ⎤

⎡ c4 −s4 0 l3 c4 ⎤ ⎡ c5 −s5 0 l 4 c5 ⎤ ⎢ r21 r22 r23 py ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ 0
T6 = ⎢ ⎥ (4)
3
T 4 = ⎢ s4 c4 0 l3 s4 ⎥ , 4
T 5 = ⎢ s5 c5 0 l 4 s5 ⎥ , ⎢ r31 r32 r33 pz ⎥
⎢0 0 1 0 ⎥ ⎢0 0 1 0 ⎥ ⎢⎣ 0 0 0 1 ⎥⎦
⎣0 0 0 1 ⎦ ⎣0 0 0 1 ⎦
⎡ c 6 − s6 0 l5 c6 ⎤ where
⎢ ⎥
5
T 6 = ⎢ s6 c 6 0 l5 s6 ⎥
⎢0 0 1 0 ⎥ px = d1 sin(θ1) + cos(θ1)(l1 cos(θ2) + l2 cos(θ2 + θ3)
⎣0 0 0 1 ⎦
+ l3 cos(θ3 + 2θ3) + l 4 cos(θ3 + 3θ3)
Finally, the product of all six link transforms is + l5 cos(θ3 + 4θ3)),
evaluated as
py = d1 cos(θ1) + sin(θ1)(l1 cos(θ2) + l2 cos(θ2 + θ3)
0 0
T6 = T11T 22T 33T 4 4T 55T 6. (3) + l3 cos(θ3 + 2θ3) + l 4 cos(θ3 + 3θ3)
+ l5 cos(θ3 + 4θ3)),
It should be noted that for the proposed method,
θ3 = θ4 = θ5 [19], therefore these angles are defined as θ3. pz = l1 sin(θ2) + l2 sin(θ2 + θ3) + l3 sin(θ3 + 2θ3)
Hence, the product of all six link transforms can be + l 4 sin(θ3 + 3θ3) + l5 sin(θ3 + 4θ3).
written as:

T A B L E 1 Link parameters of the manipulator 2.2 | Trajectory planning

i α
1 90
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
A trajectory is the path followed by the manipulator
a d θ
which is a function of the time profile along the path.
0 0 θ1
Trajectories can be planned either in joint space
l1 d1 θ2 (directly specifying the time evolution of the joint
l2 0 θ3 angles) or in Cartesian space (specifying the position
l3 0 θ4 and orientation of the end frame). Issues in trajectory
l4 0 θ5 planning include attaining a specific target from an
l5 0 θ6 initial starting point, avoiding obstacles, and staying
within manipulator capabilities. Planning in joint
4 | YAHYA ET AL.

space is the simplest and fastest because inverse
kinematics are avoided.
In other words, trajectory refers to a time history
of the position, velocity, and acceleration for each
degree of freedom. Suppose that the point‐to‐point
trajectory is connected by several segments with
continuous acceleration at the intermediate via a
point. The position of each intermediate point as
seen Figure 2 is unknown along with its velocity. Of
course, the intermediate points can also be given as
particular points that should be passed through. This
is useful especially when there is an obstacle in the
working area [22].
There are two methods for trajectory planning with
specified via points in the workspace [24]. The first is to
define the trajectory using a single high‐order polyno-
mial, where the order of the polynomial depends on the
number of constraints. For example, given that the
positions, velocity, and acceleration of the first point and
target points are known, then the position and velocity on
the mp via points, are determined using the polynomial of
the trajectory
Second, if there are mp via points between the initial
and the final points, the whole trajectory may be divided
into mp + 1 segments, and each segment can be modeled
individually.
To specify the position, velocity, and acceleration
at the beginning and end of a path segment, a
quadrinomial and a quintic polynomial are required.
Between the initial point to mp intermediate via
points, a quadrinomial is used to describe these
segments as [22]
θi, i +1 (t ) = ai0 + ai1 ti + ai2 ti 2 + ai3 ti3 + ai 4 ti4,
(i = 0, …, mp − 1), (8)
where the constraints are given as
θi = ai0 , (9)
θi +1 = ai0 + ai1 Ti + ai2 Ti 2 + ai3Ti3 + ai 4Ti 4 , (10)
θi̇ = ai1, (11)

θ (t ) = a0 + a1 t + a2 t 2 + … + ak t k θi̇ +1 = ai1 + 2ai2 Ti + 3ai3 Ti 2 + 4ai 4 Ti 3, (12)

(k = (6 + 2*mp) − 1). (5)
θï +1 = 2ai2 , (13)

Next, the velocity and acceleration at any point as are where, Ti is the executing time from point i to point i + 1.
found using The five unknowns can be solved as

θ (t ) = a1 + 2 a2 t + … + k ak t k −1, (6)
ai0 = θi , (14)

θ ̈ (t ) = 2 a2 + … + k (k − 1) ak t k −2, (7) ai1 = θi̇ , (15)

Where θ ̇ and θ ̈ are the angular velocity and acceleration

ai2 = θï /2, (16)
of the joints. Therefore, the number of unknown
variables k is equal to the number of equations (initial
position and velocity for via and target points, and the ( )
ai3 = 4θi +1 − θi̇ +1 Ti − 4θi − 3θi̇ Ti − θï Ti2 / Ti3, (17)
acceleration at the initial and target points)
( )
ai4 = θi̇ +1 Ti − 3θi +1 + 3θi + 2θi̇ Ti + θï Ti2/2 / Ti4. (18)

The intermediate point i + 1′s acceleration can be

obtained as

θï +1 = 2ai2 + 6ai3 Ti + 12ai 4 Ti 2. (19)

The segment between the number mp of intermediate

points and the final point can be described by quitic
polynomial as

θi, i +1 (t ) = bi0 + bi1 ti + bi2 ti 2 + bi3 ti3 + bi 4 ti 4

FIGURE 2 Intermediate points on the path + bi5 ti5, (i = mp), (20)
YAHYA ET AL.
where the constraints are given as
θi = bi0 ,
θi +1 = bi0 + bi1 Ti + bi2 Ti 2 + bi3Ti3 + bi 4Ti 4 + bi5Ti5,
θi̇ = bi1,
θi̇ +1 = bi1 + 2bi2 Ti + 3bi3 Ti 2 + 4bi 4 Ti 3 + 5bi 4 Ti 4, (24)
θï = 2bi2 ,
θï +1 = 2bi2 + 6bi2 Ti + 12bi3 Ti 2 + 20bi 4 Ti 3.
These constraints specify a linear set of six equations
with six unknowns whose solution is given by
bi0 = θi ,
bi1 = θi̇ ,
bi2 = θï /2,
( (
bi3 = 20θi +1 − 20θi − 8θi̇ +1 + 12θi̇ Ti
(
− 3θï − ) )/2T ,
θï +1 Ti2 i
3
( (
bi 4 = 30θi − 30θi +1 + 14θi̇ +1 + 16θi̇ Ti
( ) )
+ 3θï − 2θï +1 Ti2 /2Ti4,
( (
bi5 = 12θi +1 − 12θi − 6θi̇ +1 + 6θi̇ Ti
( ) )
− θï − θï +1 Ti2 /2Ti5.
As formulated above, the total parameters to be
determined are the joint angles of each intermediate
via point (n × mp parameters), the joint angular
velocities of each intermediate point (n × mp para-
meters), the execution time for each segment (mp + 1
parameters), and the initial and final points of the
desired path (2[n−m] parameters). Therefore, there
are ((2n + 1) mp + 2[n−m] + 1) parameters to be
determined.
Once the analytical formulation of the desired
trajectory has been introduced to the students, the next
section describes how to control each joint via LabView
to follow this desired trajectory.
| 5
3 | La bVI EW MODE L T O
CONTRO L THE ANGULAR
(21) POSITION WITH CONSTANT
VE LOC ITY
(22) In this section, the LabView platform design stages to
drive the servo motor to a specific angular position are
(23) illuminated step by step. Three servo motors are used in
these experiments; they are used to control a robotic
manipulator. The first presented model is to control the
signal that drives the servo motors R88M‐G40030H‐S2
used in each joint via a national instrument data
(25)
acquisition (NI‐DAQ). To calculate the angle of each
joint, an angular position sensor (OMRON Incremental
(26)
Rotary Encoder) is used. The sensors used to read the
angles are shown in Figure 3.
As mentioned earlier that undergraduate students
within the Department of Mechanical, Materials and
Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Notting-
(27) ham Malaysia Campus have used the models as a
reference; they were introduced first to how to calculate
(28) forward and inverse kinematics to different degrees of
freedom robots, and how to calculate trajectory planning.
(29) Then students are instructed on the electrical motors,
encoders and all the other equipment needed for the
) interface between the manipulator and the PC to control
the servo motor.
(30) To control the motion of each motor in the
manipulator, two steps to be followed: Reading optical
encoders with a counter, and configuring a timer to
) generate a signal that drives the servo motors.
(31)
3.1 | Concept 1: Use counters to monitor
the joints angles
)
The NI PCI‐6602 features eight counters that can be used
(32) to read encoders interfaced to the NI‐DAQ card. Three
counters are configured to monitor the optical encoders
mounted on the manipulator as shown in Figure 3. The
value of the angles θ1, θ2, and θ3 can be displayed in real‐
time. To monitor the manipulator angles, the following
steps should be followed:
The first step is creating the front panel and block
diagram for each encoder by dragging a numeric
indicator and a stop button into an empty VI front
panel. A waveform chart is dragged to display the
history of each joint angle of the manipulator. The
correspondence block diagram is shown in Figure 4
which uses a while loop.
The next step is configuring a DAQ assistant for each
encoder by launching a DAQ assistant. Then choose an
acquire signal, counter input, position, angular, and
6 | YAHYA ET AL.

FIGURE 3 The encoders used to measure the angles

finally, select the channels of the NI‐DAQ card which

will be connected to the encoders.
The next step is the connection between encoders and
their timer, i.e., the parts (E6B2‐CWZ6C) and NI PCI‐
6602. Figure 5 shows the output circuit diagram of the
encoders used in this project to read the joints angles.
Phases A and B of each encoder are connected to one of
the counters of the NI PCI‐6602 via the BNC‐2121
connector. Phase A is connected to the SOURCE of the
selected counter while Phase B is connected to UP/ FIGURE 5 The output circuit diagram of the encoder (E6B2‐
DOWN of the selected counter. CWZ6C)

FIGURE 4 Encoder display block diagram. DAQ, data acquisition

YAHYA ET AL. | 7

3.2 | Concept 2: Generating a signal that motors. For the motors have the ability of following any
drives the servo motors desired angular position, velocity, and acceleration, the
model show in the next section can be used.
The servo motors R88M‐G40030H‐S2 can be controlled
by the signal feeding the two pins (22 and 24 which
control the direction of rotation) of the CN1 connector of
4 | La bVI EW MODE L T O
each servo motor. The type of the signal feeding these
CONTRO L THE ANGULAR
two pins specifies the direction of the servo motor
P O S I T I O N , VE L O C I T Y , A N D
whether it is clockwise or counterclockwise. Figure 6
ACCELERATION
shows the signals generated to control the servo motors.
To generate the square signals needed to drive
The model of Figure 4 can read the angular position of
the servo motors using LabVIEW, the model shown in
the servo motor but cannot read the angular velocity and
Figure 7 is used. It is also needed to mention that two
acceleration. Because the velocity is the measurement of
models are used instead of one for each servo motor,
the rate and direction of change in the position of an
because from these two pins, each pin is connected to
object, therefore a shift register is needed. The DAQ
one‐timer to generate the square pulse. For example,
assistant provides the current angle while the shift
COUNTER 0 is connected to pin 22 and COUNTER 1 is
register provides the previous angle value. Their differ-
connected to pin 24 of the servo motor, to rotate the servo
ence between them is divided by the sample time to
motor clockwise. For example, the signal of COUNTER 0
calculate the angular velocity. Figure 9 shows the block
of NI PCI‐6602 is set to zero while the signal of the
diagram which displays angular velocity. To calculate the
COUNTER 1 is set to be square signal. So, to rotate the
angular acceleration of the servo motor, another shift
servo motor counterclockwise, the signal of COUNTER 1
register is needed to provide the previous angular
is set to zero while the signal of the COUNTER 0 is set to
velocity.
be square signal.
Then the difference between the current angular
Then the counters of NI PCI‐6602 are connected to the
velocity of the motor and the previous angular velocity
servo motors via the BNC‐2121 and the servo motors
divided by the sample time calculates the angular
connection to the power supply should be completed
acceleration of the motor. Figure 10 shows the block
before testing the system.
diagram which displays angular acceleration.
Two LabView models are created then, one to display
As mentioned in the model of Figure 8, the velocity of
the angle position of the encoder and the second model is
the motors can be changed manually by changing the
to generate the signal that drives the servo motors. In
frequency of the motor pulse which is not very useful in
other words, if it is desired to design a model which is
real industrial applications. Instead, it is required to
able to generate signal which drives the servo motor and
design a model by which it is able to manipulate the
display the angle position of each joint as well, these two
angular velocity of the motor according to a desired path
models can be combined.
(equation). To achieve this ability, a formula node is
To make the model capable to stop the servo motor
added as shown in Figure 11. Inside this formula node,
when the angle reaches the target angle, the next
the desired equations of the angular position, velocity,
modifications in Figure 8 should be added. In this model,
and acceleration are written. Then connect the angular
a new block is added to make a continuous comparison
velocity value of this node to the frequency block of the
between the target angle and the experimental angle read
servo motor. To reduce the noise from the reading of the
from the encoder, once they are equal, the designated
encoders, RMS filter could be used in the model.
motor will be stopped.
It should be noted that in this model, the angular
velocity of the AC servo motors is constant, i.e., there is
no angular velocity reference that the motors should
5 | SI MULATI ON RE SULTS
follow. Instead, the angular velocity could be manipu-
Two tutorials are presented in this section. In the first
lated manually by changing the value of the pulse
tutorial, the angular velocity is set to be constant while
frequency of the signal generated to feed the servo
changing the angular position of the degrees of freedom
of the joint angles. In the second tutorial, there are
reference equations for the desired angular position,
velocity, and acceleration for the servo motors which
makes students more aware of expected cases in
FIGURE 6 Servo motors forward and reverse commands controlling a robot in real industry applications. The
8 | YAHYA ET AL.

FIGURE 7 Servo motors pulse generator model

servo motors used in the experiments are R88M‐ 5.1 | Tutorial 1

G40030H‐S2, which are controlled by the NI PCI‐6602
It is desired to rotate the three servo motors to the angles
via the BNC‐2121 connector. The encoders used to
ϕ = −15.92, α = 34.95, and θ = −37.37. Using the LabVIEW
display the angle position of each joint are OMRON
model of Figure 8, the motors of the experimental
(E6B2‐CWZ6C).
manipulator are moved until the angles get the values of

FIGURE 8 Servo motors control model

YAHYA ET AL. | 9

FIGURE 9 The block diagram which displays angular velocity. DAQ, data acquisition

FIGURE 10 The block diagram which displays angular acceleration. DAQ, data acquisition
10 | YAHYA ET AL.

FIGURE 11 The model used to control the angular position, velocity, and acceleration of the motor

FIGURE 12 The values of the encoders using the LabVIEW

YAHYA ET AL.
ϕ = −15.93, α = 35.05, and θ = −37.48. Figure 12 shows the
results of the three angles in which, it is noted that the
percentage error between the target angles (ϕ = −15.92,
α = 34.95, and θ = −37.37) and the real angles of the
manipulator (ϕ = −15.93, α = 35.05, and θ = −37.4) is (0.06,
0.28, and 0.08) which is too small compared with the target
angles, hence shows the effectiveness of the proposed model
to be used to control AC servo motors.
5.2 | Tutorial 2
This tutorial will teach students to derive the equations of
trajectory planning to control angular position, velocity,
FIGURE 13 The values of the estimated and measured angular position, velocity, and acceleration of the first motor. (white: estimated,
red: measured)
| 11
and acceleration of joint angles following desired values
on targeted intermediate points. For example, consider
the robot shown in Figure 1. It is desired to design a
polynomial trajectory to each joint in which there are two
via points. The total time for the end effecter to go from
initial point to target point is 15 s. And then the time
needed for the end‐effector to go from the initial point to
the first via point is 5 s, and from the first via point to
second via point is 5 s as well. For the first joint,
θ1 (0) = 0, θ1̇ (0) = 0, θ1 (5) = 6.25, θ1̇ (5) = 12.5,
θ1 (10) = 25, θ1 (10) = 5, θ1 (15) = 56.25, θ1̇ (15) = 7.5,
̇
and the first joint rotates with a constant angular
acceleration equal to 50. While the second joint rotates
12 | YAHYA ET AL.

FIGURE 14 The values of the estimated and measured angular position, velocity, and acceleration of the second motor. (white:
estimated, red: measured)

in a constant angular velocity equal to 2, and then θ1 (t ) = 0.25t 2, (33)

θ2 (0) = −1, θ2 (5) = 9, θ2 (10) = 19, θ2 (15) = 29. For the
third joint, θ3 (0) = −2, θ3̇ (0) = 2, θ3 (5) = 13, θ3̇ (5) = 4 ,
θ3 (10) = 38, θ3̇ (10) = 6, θ3 (15) = 73, θ3̇ (15) = 8, and this
joint rotates with a constant angular acceleration as well
which is equal to 0.4, here all the positions are in degree,
velocities are in degrees/s, and accelerations are in
degree/s2.
Sol.
Using (5–32), we found that the trajectory for the
joints can be defined as
θ2 (t ) = 2t − 1, (34)
θ3 (t ) = 0.2t 2 + 2t − 2, (35)
Using the model shown in Figure 11, the joint can be
controlled following the desired trajectory. Figure 13
shows the estimated (white) and measured (red) angle,
angular velocity, and angular acceleration of the first
motor defined above, Figure 14 shows the estimated
YAHYA ET AL. | 13

FIGURE 15 The values of the estimated and measured angular position, velocity, and acceleration of the third motor. (white:
estimated, red: measured)

(white) and measured (red) angle, angular velocity, and
angular acceleration of the second motor while Figure 15
shows the estimated (white) and measured (red) angle,
angular velocity and angular acceleration of the third
motor of the manipulator.
6 | C ON C LU S I O N
The objective of this paper is to describe a LabVIEW‐
based modules developed along with the instrumentation
required to control the angular position, velocity, and
acceleration of AC servo motors. It should be noted that
available literature is focused mainly on DC servo motors
since they are easier to control than AC servo motors.
Our experience summarized in this paper provides new
contributions for the students and instructors who are
interested in using AC servo motors for the robotics
joints. Two modules are presented in this paper, the first
is to drive the servo motor to a specific angular position
with a constant angular velocity. The second drives the
servo motor in any desired angular position, velocity, and
14 | YAHYA
acceleration. In other words, in the second module, the
angular position, velocity, and acceleration are function
of time. Another major contribution of this work is the
simplicity of constructing the models guaranteed by the
graphical nature of LabVIEW. The results obtained from
LabVIEW models show the effectiveness of the presented
model in the control of the servo motors.
ORCID
Samer Yahya http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0723-8751
Hussain Al‐Rizzo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7280-5313
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Samer Yahya received BSc degree in Mechatronics
engineering from University of Baghdad, Iraq in 2003,
and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Uni-
versity of Malaya, Malaysia in 2012. In 2012, he joined
Swinburne University of Technology as a lecturer in
Robotic and Mechatronics department. In 2013, he
started working at the University of Nottingham
Malaysia Campus as an assistant professor in the
department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufac-
turing Engineering. In 2017, Samer joind the Uni-
versity of Arkansas at Little Rock as a visiting scholar
in the Systems Engineering Department. His research
interests include redundant manipulator, lightweight
robotic arms, artificial intelligence, flexible antenna,
decoupled antenna array, and MIMO.
YAHYA ET AL.
Mahmoud Moghavvemi received the BSc degree in
electronics from the State University of New York at
Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA, the MSc degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Bridge-
port, Bridgeport, CT, USA, and PhD degree in
electrical engineering from the Department of Elec-
trical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. He worked as Test and Design
Engineer at CTI Electronics, Fairfield CT, and as the
Director of Informatics School of Engineering, Kuala
Lumpur Malaysia. He joined the Department of
Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya, as a
Lecturer, where later was promoted to the post of an
Associated Professor in 1996 and to a Full Professor in
2002. He is a reviewer for several distinguished
journals in his field of expertise. He is the Founder
and currently the Director of the Center for Research
in Applied Electronics, University of Malaya. His
contributions can be seen in more than 30 patents,
and more than 300 refereed journals and conference
articles.
Haider A. F. Almurib (S’00–M’05–SM’11) received
his PhD in electrical engineering from the University
of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2006. He is
currently working as a Professor in the Department of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University
of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Malaysia, where he
served as head of the department from 2014 for 4
years. He is also Fellow of HEA, UK, since 2012.
Before this he was a Senior Lecturer in the University
of Malaya. He also worked in industry for four years
as an R&D engineer in the field of computer
automation. His research interests include nonlinear
and intelligent control, electric machines and drives,
embedded systems, and fault tolerance of digital
systems. He served as an associate editor for IET
Power Electronics. Among his research achievements
is more than 150 publications, 14 PhD graduates and 6
patents.
Hussain Al‐Rizzo received his BSc in Electronics
and Communications (1979) (High Honors), Post-
graduate Diploma in Electronics and Communica-
tions (1981) (High Honors) and MSc in Microwave
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Communication Systems (1983) (High Honors) from
the University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq. From May 1983
to October 1987 he was working with the Electro-
magnetic Wave Propagation Department, Space and
Astronomy Research Center, Scientific Research
Council, Baghdad, Iraq. On December, 1987, he
joined the Radiating Systems Research Laboratory,
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB,
Canada where he obtained his PhD (1992) in
Computational Electromagnetics, Wireless Commu-
nications, and the Global Positioning System. For his
various academic achievements he received the best
doctoral graduate award in science and engineering
by the University of New Brunswick. Since 2000, he
joined the Systems Engineering Department, Univer-
sity Arkansas at Little Rock where he is currently a
Professor of Telecommunication Systems Engineering
He has published over 200 peer‐reviewed journal
papers and presentations, book chapters, and two
patents. His research areas include implantable
antennas and wireless systems, smart antennas, 4G
LTE‐A, WLAN/MIMO deployment and load balan-
cing, electromagnetic wave scattering by complex
objects, design, modeling and testing of high‐power
microwave applicators, precipitation effects on terres-
trial and satellite frequency re‐use communication
systems, field operation of NAVSTAR GPS receivers,
data processing, and accuracy assessment, effects of
the ionosphere, troposphere and multipath on code
and carrier‐beat phase GPS observations and the
development of novel hybrid Cartesian/cylindrical
FDTD models for passive microwave components.
How to cite this article: Yahya S, Moghavvemi
M, Almurib HA, Al‐Rizzo H. A LabVIEW module
to promote undergraduate research in control of
AC servo motors of robotics manipulator. Comput.
Appl. Eng. Educ. 2019;1–15.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.22180