Masters Theses

Date of Award

6-1988

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Electrical Engineering

Major Professor

Robert W. Rochelle

Committee Members

Robert Bodenheimer, Frank Speckhart

Abstract

Embedded microcontrollers were used to control the X-Y (or horizontal) motions of a high-speed, low-cost industrial robot. The design and implementation were based on the Intel 8031 (the ROMless version of the Intel 8051) microcomputer. The X-Y or horizontal motions of the robot were accomplished by using four four-phase stepper-motors (two for each axis). Two microcontrollers, one for each axis, were used to step and control the stepper-motors. An IBM PC/AT was used as the main system controller, which transmits both data and instructions to the microcontrollers.

A twisted pair was used to establish the serial communications between the IBM PC/AT and the microcontrollers. The communication protocol that was chosen uses the built-in serial communication feature of the Intel 8031. A user-friendly BASIC program was written to allow the robot user to download data and send instructions to the microcontroller of the robot system. However, assembly language routines, to be called by the main program, were necessary in order to transmit data in the nine-bit format required by the serial communication mode of the microcontrollers.

A second BASIC program was written to convert informations, entered into the IBM PC/AT by the user as moves or tasks for the robot, into "move" data for the X and Y microcontrollers. A third BASIC program was also written to convert acceleration and deceleration profiles of the stepper-motors into "ramp-up" and "ramp-down" data for the Intel 8031 microcontrollers.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS