Kinect-based Teleoperated Pseudo-Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm

The objective of this study is to develop a pseudo-anthropomorphic robotic arm that is controlled through a motion capture device. The study aims to present an alternative method to robot control. Utilization of motion capture to control a pseudo-anthropomorphic arm can make the control intuitive and straightforward for its operator. This can contribute to robot applications wherein accurate control is necessary. This pseudo-anthropomorphic robotic arm has four degrees of freedom, specifically, shoulder yaw and pitch, elbow pitch and wrist pitch. The motion capture device used is the Microsoft Kinect which detects its operator's arm position. Data from the Kinect is fed through computer and a PIC microcontroller in order to control the motors of the robotic arm. The PIC microcontroller is responsible for generating pulse width modulation that will power the motors. Encoders are used to determine the position of the motors. A PI controller is used as the feedback controller and is implemented also through the PIC microcontroller. Testing was done in order to determine how well the robotic arm is able to follow the operator's arm position. Through this study the Kinect was shown to be a capable method to control a pseudo-anthropomorphic robotic arm with four degrees of freedom.