Since the development of 5G and AI, the mechanical arm and robotics markets have been growing exponentially and are expected to play an important role in every household within the next 30 years. The development of a mechanical arm requires cross-disciplinary students to master both the software and the hardware knowledge related to the mechanical arm. In the future, students need to have sufficient robotic knowledge to contribute to the robotic industry.
The high cost of a mechanical arm creates a barrier for students to have access to it.(One industrial mechanical arm could cost more than USD 30,000). Students could only acquire the conceptual understanding of the mechanical arm but lack real-life experience. Lack of training and experience related to a mechanical arm leads to a higher rate of critical mistakes and hazard after the student enters the workforce. Students need a place that allows them to safely implement their robotics knowledge that are taught in school into real life.
A 3D simulator that could simulate a mechanical arm and provide a GUI for students to understand the robot’s architecture and provide a coding environment for students to learn robotic programming using high-level languages. It could meet two needs in one solution
- Computer Science students could learn mechanical arm architecture
- Mechanical Engineering students could learn to program robots It is cheap and portable, suitable for educational use and there is low risk associated with application.
"3D-Physic-Simulating-Platform, Unity3D", Platform: Unity 3D, Language: C# : The simulating platform displayed the robotic arm and the basic slider control.
"Software-Control-to-Simulating-Platform", Platform: Visual Studio Code, Language: C# : Coding environment for users to control the robotic arm movement using Wifi communication.
"API.md": Application Programming Interface for contolling the simulated mechanical arm using high-level language.
"Communication Protocal.md": Communication protocal for contributer to extend the functionality of the coding environment.
"Scholarly Project Poster.pdf"/"Scholarly Project PowerPoint.pdf": Poster and PowerPoint that is used in the Purdue Honors College Scholarly Project Presentation.
"sample code.cs": Sample code for controlling the mechanical arm in the coding environment.