Remote Control of a Robotic Arm via Bluetooth

Abstract

This project involves the implementation of the IEEE 802.15.1 technology on the control of a two-axis robotic arm through two joysticks. This system implements a Bluetooth communication using two modules of Bluetooth, an Embedded Blue Transceiver AppMod EB500 Module and an Easy Bluetooth Parallax Module; as the main controllers, it uses two Parallax Propeller ProRPM microcontrollers. The user indicates with the joysticks how each of the three axes should move from a distance to another; these orders travel from an ADC circuit to the first microcontroller which are sent throughout a connection of Bluetooth communication to the second microcontroller, which decodes the commands and sends the information directly to the servomotors that move each axis. To avoid any undesired movement that was not commanded by the user using the joysticks, a digital PID controller was also implemented using two feedback potentiometers attached to two of the axes of the robotic arm. In conclusion, we have a Robotic Arm that is controlled by a Parallax Propeller microcontroller that uses Bluetooth technology to receive data from another Parallax Propeller MIcrocontroller that decodes the user’s commands using two analog joysticks