Using the Matlab Robotics Toolbox with an Introductory Robotics Course

Title: Using the Matlab Robotics Toolbox with an Introductory Robotics Course Justin Dansereau Cheryl Li Mechanical Engineering Department, University of New Haven, CT Abstract When teaching an introductory robotics course, it can be difficult for students to understand certain topics, especially those with frame transformations. The MATLAB robotics toolbox has been adopted to give students an interactive visual representation of each main topic within this course. These examples include both representations of known robot configurations (i.e., PUMA 560) and robots with structures and dimensions which can be edited by both the student and instructor. These examples provide the mathematical representations and solutions of the designed robot. • Homogenous transformation can be shown in two different ways, either the student can create their own robot links and rotate and translate them to observe the change in coordinate systems or they can use a predefined robot and fix links on either side of one joint and then transform in the same way. • The DH parameters are shown by rotating or translating an individual link on a known robot to show the meaning of each parameter. • Forward kinematics is visualized by creating a three-link robot. This robot will be given a specific transformation at each link. The robot will show the beginning and end positions of the robot. It will also show the DH matrix for the forward kinematics. • The inverse kinematics is very similar to the teaching of forward kinematics except instead of giving the transformations the end effector position is given. The robot will represent the movements to the same position but will mathematically work backwards to find the transformations. • To teach the Jacobian, a predefined robot is used to calculate all Jacobian(s). Then the robot is moved to all values found to show students the singularity at these points. • The examples for trajectory planning will include a dynamic visual of a pre-defined robot along with graphs which show the velocity and acceleration of the robot in the dynamic system.