A picture of the robot arm
Kinematic model of the arm

Hackathon-Project

We are Freshman Virginia Tech Students participating in our first hackathon. The aim of this project is to apply concepts of forward kinematic analysis to work out the positions and orientations of the joints of a robotic arm in Denavit-Hartenberg convention. To this end, we created a simulated 3D environment with a 3 DOF robotic arm. Our application features a GUI that allows users to enter angles for each joint on the robot arm. Alternatively, users can use keyboard input to control each joint.

Process

We built our 3D environment in java using libgdx. We modeled the arm using Autodesk Fusion 360.

Challenges

Most of us were new to creating a GUI within libgdx, so we found it challenging to set that up within our project. Additionally, the concepts of forward kinematics were very new to us, and it was challenging for us to implement.

What we learned

We learned how to work with libgdx and how to apply knowledge of inverse kinematics to a simulated robotic arm.

Future Improvements

For future development, we would like to create a more advanced GUI that features more detailed output, such as pose information for each joint in the arm. We would also like to implement different ways of controlling each joint, such as click-and-drag input. Finally, we would also like our simulation to implement inverse kinematics, so instead of entering joint angles, users can input a desired position and orientation of the end effector and the program will calculate the joint angles required to achieve the desired pose.