RM-501 Robot

ECE 5463 Fall 2014

Read RM-501 Manual on the Course
Website Chapters 1 and 2

Main Components

RM 501 5 joint robot arm

Standard hand gripper or endeffector
Teach box (pendant) for manual
movement of the arm
Drive unit Reside all control and
power electronics
Computer Use PC to output ASCII
characters to a printer port to control
the robot

Wrist
Elbow
Shoulder
Waist
Mechanical
structure

Robot Unit
Outer appearance
5 Degrees of freedom (DOF) waist, shoulder, elbow, pitch, roll
Base, body, upper arm, forearm, hand attachment
Wrist
The robot is in articulated geometry
Every joint is rotational
As opposed to cylindrical or spherical
Hand 2 jaw gripper which uses a DC motor to control close and open

Spherical

Cylindrical

 Interior of arm
3 parts to each joint generally: motor (DC permanent magnet), timing
belt, appropriate gearing to reduce speed and increase torque, limit
switch
Limit switch limit the travel of a joint (small micro-switch), also used
to provide a nest position
Two motors for wrist

Drive Unit
Programs + positions may be entered into the system and stored in a
ROM used in subsequent playback
Serial port (RS232C) for connection to an external computer (like
the usual terminal port)
Centronics connection (standard connector for most printers)
External I/O terminals it is usually necessary to synchronize the
operation of robot with convey, solenoids for part pick-up

Teach Box
Slide switch on for teaching and off for computer mode
12 keys on right for manually operating the joints

B body movement
S shoulder movement
E elbow movement
R rotation of wrist
P pitch of wrist
O open hand
C close hand

NST ENT (executing the key): move to origin of the

mechanical system (where the limit switches are)
P.S. # ENT, 1 < # < 629 or # =0: store the values of the joint
positions where you are with an associated position number
(stored internally in a RAM); 0 = home position
P.C. # ENT, delete a stored position

Teach Box - continued

MOV # ENT: move to a recorded position
ORG ENT: move to the home position = MOV 0
INC (DEC) ENT: after going to a specific position, causes
movement to next (previous) position
WRT # ENT: write from RAM to ROM, 0 # 5
TRN # ENT: write from ROM to RAM

Specifications
Robot Unit
Range of joints

Waist: 300
Shoulder: 130
Elbow: 90
Pitch:
90
Roll:
180

Handling weight (payload): 1.2 Kg

Speed = 400 mm/sec (> 1ft/sec)
Repeatability = 0.5 mm ( 0.02 in) the difference from
absolute accuracy?
Weight: 27 Kg
Type of manipulation: Servo-controlled point to point

Specifications - continued
Driver Unit
Control system: point to point
Point position identification: optical encoder

Control Unit

Z-80 microprocessor
2 types of interface to PC
Teach box, ROM, I/O
Operating system/control program memory/data memory