Fall 2019
Universal Robots Arm
Looked into the different functionality the arm provides along with how it is used in TrueVision Alcon. There are several modes under which the robotic arm can operate.
Assisted drive is Alcon’s own custom-made movement software that allows a user to guide the arm by hand using a torque sensor built into the head of the arm.
Free drive is simply linear motion between designated points.
Rest mode is where the robot returns to its original rest position.
The arm can also be potentially remotely controlled by an operator outside the surgical room, whether from the same building or even across the country.
First Version Block Diagram
The first version of the system design consisted of only the microcontroller with the optical sensors and the Windows software to communicate with the robotic arm.
Microcontroller
The microcontroller controller selected for the system is the STM3232F767ZI and used the NUCLEO-F767ZI development board for testing before getting out PCB.
The development board was used to successfully connect to the optical sensors and reading the distances correctly.
VL53L0X
The optical sensors used to measure is the VL53L0X time of flight sensor. It provides accurate distance measurement whatever the target reflectances is and can measure absolute distances up to 2 meters, However, it only have a 25 degrees field of view.
UR Arm Simulator
The simulator is provided by polyscope and allows us to test the communication protocols with the robotic arm without a physical arm. The simulator provides all the same information as the physical arm except for any physical forces that might be apply to it.
Fall Quarter Summary
The fall quarter comes down to doing research on different processors and distance measuring sensors to use for the system. Experimented with different sensors and decided that VL53L0X will be satisfactory for our project. The sensors are tested on a Arduino and STM32 development board to to determine its reliability. Also tested software functionality of the processor to match project needs to communicate with all the sensors and decided on communications between different interfaces.