Motion control of a SCARA robot with a PLC unit

ABSTRACT MOTION CONTROL OF A SCARA ROBOT WITH A PLC UNIT DAŞ, M. Taylan M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. L. Canan DÜLGER August 2003, 49 pages SCARA ( Selectively Compliant Articulated Robot Arm) robot is a small industrial robot, which is commonly used for cutting, handling and assembling of small components for continuous manufacturing lines. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) can be defined as industrial control devices containing hardware and software to be used for performing control functions, for example; CNC machines, for any kind of Electro-Pneumatic and hydraulic systems, and also in textile machinery. Generally input-output elements of PLCs include timers, counters and some basic mathematical instructions for control applications, which have an important role for today's automation technology. The purpose of this study is to achieve the motion control of a SCARA robot having four degree's of freedom Serpent 1 (Practical Electronics) robot with a PLC based control system. Siemens S7-200 series PLC and Serpent 1 robot are used for this study. Serpent 1 robot system has been studied mathematically. Available system is operated with dc servo motors and pneumatic actuators. Initially, Serpent 1 robot control system is activated. Partial adaptation of the PLC to the robot system is then performed. Three different sized objects are picked from one point and placed to the target. Keywords: SCARA robot, PLC, Mathematical modelling, Simulation. a$sf *v ?^