Design and Manufacturing the Torque Gauge of ICaSbot and Implementing its Data Transfer Protocol

Sensors play a significant role in robotic fields. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to modify the measurement of cables’ actual tension of a cable robot; furthermore, the unwanted noises of the constructed boards of the used sensors which amplify the loadcell output are reduced. Some applications are proposed for the mentioned measurement system. This approach has some advantages such as providing feedback for motors, evaluating the robot’s ultimate load carrying capacity, improving the motor control system and estimating the vibrating deflections of the cables. Closed loop control of the robot and improvement of the robot’s accuracy are some objectives of this work. In addition, a new approach is investigated in this paper to transfer data from loadcell to PC for a six Degree of Freedom (DOF) cable robot called ICaSbot. Flexible deflections of the cables’ length are estimated using cable vibration theory for a specific path. The mechanism and its related designed boards are designed and manufactured. Besides, the output of the sensors is monitored and is used for calibrating the equations of the actual tension of the cables. The validity and efficiency of the proposed sensing device and its related claimed applications are proved by comparing the data of experimental tests with simulation results of MATLAB for two different predefined paths. The results show high accuracy of the measurement mechanism which can be used for online applications of the cable robots