A robot with a future!
Mexican students present a robotic arm they developed themselves as part of a mechatronics project.
As part of the “Mechatronics Project Work” module in the Bachelor degree programme in automation and mechatronics, exchange students from Mexico developed a 6-axis robotic arm. What can it do? The students presented its capabilities on July 23 during their public final defense.
During the presentation, interested viewers were able to join the BigBlueButton room online to learn about the challenges Daniel Ocampo Mendoza, Marco Barrera Salas, Hamid Castillo Martinez, and Roberto Hernandez Tovar faced during the development process.
"The students faced major challenges. Starting practically from scratch, without materials and advanced knowledge, e.g. in additive manufacturing and special programming languages, and then finally producing a finished and functional robot arm. That is remarkable and worthy of recognition", says Egmont Schreiter.
”The Diplom engineer accompanied the Mexican students during their project work.
Developed and built in-house
The goal of the project was for students to build a 6-axis robotic arm from scratch as a demonstration example. The following key tasks were defined:
- Analysis of the equipment available at the university,
- Research into possible implementation solutions using open-source software and open-source hardware,
- Planning, designing, and simulating the robotic arm using FreeCAD,
- Programming the electronics,
- Construction of the robotic arm,
- Integration into robotics software such as RobotOS or FreeCAD’s Robot Workbench,
- Development and implementation of a sample application.
In their presentation, the students had the robotic arm perform various movement sequences using the interface they had programmed themselves. What might look like a conventional movement—such as fully extending the robotic arm—posed major challenges for the Mexican students. “During the pandemic, I couldn’t visit a lab in Mexico, but here in Germany we’ve worked intensively with different programming languages and learned a great deal, ” reports Roberto Hernández. “Ultimately, we’re pleased that, through extensive calculations, we were able to design a functioning robotic arm.”
Marco Barrera Salas is also pleased with this and provides information about various areas for improvement that future students can continue to work on. “We’re convinced that our project can be continued,” says the programmer.
Where do the students see their robotic arm in the future? “A lot is possible, ” Marco sums up. At the moment, the arm can transport small objects, so he envisions its future use primarily in laboratories, for example, when handling metal parts.
Sustainable Use of the Robotic Arm in Student Recruitment and for Businesses
"Studying at the HSZG is not just about theory, but also a lot of practice. That's why the robotic arm is intended to show our prospective students what practical content is taught during their studies." says Egmont Schreiter of the student project.
”The project supervisor also highlights the added value of such developments in the field of mechatronics for companies. “Since the robot was developed under an open license—both the hardware and the software—the university has the opportunity to create customized solutions for SMEs.” This means that future applications and further development are entirely possible.
