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Team Status Report for 2/15/25

This week we worked on planning out our kinematic flow. We also looked into camera options and purchased a camera for computer vision. We are working on developing kinematic planning algorithms for the robot. We decided on how we are going to set up the camera in relation to the conveyor belt: 1m above. We decided to change the scope of our project to include boxes of different heights, which will greatly increase our project’s overall usefulness. We decided to use OpenCV modules to determine the size of the QR code on each box, from which we should be able to extrapolate the height of the box.

A was written by Marcus, B was written by __, C was written by Matt:

A: In response to safety, we want a strict perimeter around the robot that puts people our of arm range. Additionally a full stop control should be established. In response to public welfare, back strain and warehouse related injuries are the main aches that our product aims to sooth. In regards to public health, fast packages will help people get their meds and happiness faster.

B:

C: Our project directly addresses the growing need for efficient and cost-effective package sorting in warehouses and distribution centers. As commercialization and e-commerce shipments continue to boom, the number of packages that need to be sorted will eventually reach unsustainable levels. This is especially true due to human inefficiencies, rising labor costs, and the physical toll of the work itself. Our robotic arm would significantly reduce labor dependency, which would allow businesses to minimize sorting errors, optimize workflow, and improve overall operational efficiency. This would affect the entire supply chain and improve the overall production, distribution, and consumption of goods.

By using our robotic arm to reduce labor costs and standardize sorting speed/accuracy, warehouses would be able to increase their package volumes, leading to greater profitability. Additionally, our robotic arm would streamline logistics and reduce bottlenecks, which would ultimately enable faster order fulfillment. Ideally, consumers would benefit from quicker delivery times, which would also increase their consumption. Another interesting effect of automating package sorting is that it allows companies to reallocate funds for human labor towards higher-value roles, which would potentially improve overall productivity and economic growth.

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Raunak’s Status Report for 2/15

Main Status Report

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project? 

This week, I made a lot of progress on the software aspects of the project. Specifically, we wrote the basic forward and inverse kinematic equations in Python to derive the position and angle the robotic arms need to be in for a particular object. This is the heart of the software that controls the robotic arm, so finishing the basic code for it this week was a huge accomplishment. I also worked on the design presentation with Marcus for next week, making the suggested improvements from the proposal presentation. Specifically, we worked on making the slides less text-heavy, including more diagrams and formatting the slides better.

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be
taken to catch up to the project schedule?

I think our progress is on schedule, especially because we got a major software component finished this week.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

Next week, I plan on simulating the kinematic equations solver in Python to verify that it works as expected. Matplotlib  has various simulators that can work for this. We basically just need to verify that the angles and position of the robotic arm are as expected. We also might get started on the CV aspect of this project, which involves recognizing QR codes and telling the robotic arms what to do in each category of QR code.

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Matt’s Status Report for 2/8/25

1.) What did you personally accomplish this week on the project?
I used this week to start working on coding the inverse kinematics equations for calculating/controlling the robot arm movement. I watched a couple videos on inverse kinematics for robotics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFE-zuD6jok&ab_channel=EngineerM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW5FUVzYCKM&ab_channel=KevinMcAleer), particularly on Python implementations. Using what I learned, I coded some initial inverse kinematics in Python, since we plan on using Matplotlib physics simulations to test while the robot arm is still being completed.

2.) Is my progress on schedule?
Yes. I started the inverse kinematics implementation this week and plan on completing it next week, which matches our planned schedule.

3.)What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?
Next week I want to finish programming the inverse kinematic equation solver. Beyond the code for the equations themselves, I also want to have unit testing and simulation testing completed. I’d also like to research the QR code CV a little more and have a solid idea of our potential implementation.

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Team Status Report for 2/8/25

 

The most significant risk that we face is getting the precision of the robotic arm to be accurate enough to locate the boxes. We will need the forward and inverse kinematic equations to be spot on along with the sensor data to be able to locate the box correctly. If this isn’t precise enough, the vacuum suction will not be able to pick up the box and our MVP will not need to be achieved. We are going to manage this risk by focusing on significant simulation for the kinematic equation solver and also getting a vacuum suction with strong enough force to be able to pick up objects even if the location of the arm isn’t extremely precise. Our contingency plan might be able to have the robotic arm punch the boxes off the conveyor belt instead of using suction, which won’t need as much precision.

We have yet to test most of our hardware components but we will test them as soon as possible and change our plan based on that.

We made a dummy 3d printed prototype arm that is lacking in electronics.

Our plans for next week are ordering and testing more hardware. As well as developing software.

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Marcus’s Status Report for 2/8/25

This week I modeled and printed a prototype arm. The design is 4 axis suction arm with 3 motor axis and  1 servo axis. I routed wires paths through the 3d printed parts and worked to achieve part tolerances. Currently we don’t have all of the hardware to make the arm function: we need angle sensors, servos, wire, suction parts etc.

I would say that we are on schedule to have a working robot arm in the next few weeks.

Next class I want to wire angle sensors to the Arduino and potentially motors to control the arm. I also want to test out the suction gripper. I will continue revising the hardware.

 

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Raunak’s Status Report for 2/8/25

1.) Accomplishments for this week: This week I was responsible for presenting the project proposal, so I focused a lot on that. I spent a significant amount of time researching various aspects of the project including the software we plan on using for the forward and inverse kinematic equations for the arm movement as well as the computer vision models for QR code detection. For instance, I found this very useful blog post on the implementation of kinematics in C++ (https://medium.com/geekculture/inverse-kinematics-solver-in-c-e999f1b7f353), which is what we plan on working with for the project.  I then practiced presenting this information concisely for the proposal presentation. After the presentation,  I thought about and documented some of the feedback we received. One critical feedback that I documented was that we need to think about whether we want our boxes to have variable or fixed height, which we will have to take into consideration for the kinematic equations. I discussed this with the team and we believe that our scope will be for fixed length boxes as our focus is going to be on getting the robotic arm to work correctly.

2.) Is my progress up to date?: Yes, I believe that we are up to date on the project so far. We spent a lot of time doing research on this project and we are now ready to move towards the implementation phase, which will begin next week.

3.) Deliverables for next week: Next week we want to begin programming the kinematic equation solver. We believe that this will be the most challenging aspect of the software, so we want to begin as early as we can. Ideally, for next week, we hope to have the forward kinematic solver completed and unit tested. I plan on working with Matt on this implementation and testing the forward solver as well. This won’t be a final test for the functionality as unit-testing can only do so much, but I think this will be a solid first step toward the software aspect of this project. If we get extra time outside of this, we might also start looking into QR code data sets that we can use in our CV model.