Development of a control architecture for a parallel three-axis robotic arm mechanism using CANopen communication protocol

Based upon the CANopen communication protocol and the LabVIEW graphic programing procedures, this paper develops a closed-loop control architecture for a parallel three-axis (Delta) robotic arm mechanism. The accomplishments include prototyping a parallel three-axis robotic arm mechanism, assembling servomotors with associated encoders and gearsets, coding CANopen communication scripts for servomotor controllers and a host supervision GUI, coding forward/inverse kinematics scripts to compute the required servomotor rotations and the coordinates of a movable platform or the mechanism, coding tracking error compensation scripts for effective closed-loop griper control, and coding integration scripts to command and supervise the mechanism motion on the LabVIEW-based host GUI. During the development stage, this research designed and prototyped the parallel three-axis robotic arm mechanism based upon basic Delta robot kinematics. To control the mechanism effectively and accurately, this study implemented the CANopen communication protocol, which characterizes high speed and stable transmission. The protocol applies to the CANopen communication channels among the controllers and the host supervision GUI. On the LabVIEW development platform, the coded supervision GUI performs issuing/receiving messages to the CANopen-based controllers. The controllers excite the servomotors and actuate the parallel mechanism to track prescribed trajectories in a closed-loop control fashion. Meanwhile, an electromagnet attached to the movable platform of the robotic mechanism performs satisfactory picking/placing object actions.