Development of a Robotic Arm Prototype with Three Degrees of Freedom for Upper Limb Amputees

The design and construction of a prototype of a robotic arm, that reproduces the kinematics of a healthy arm, has been discussed in this paper. It is operated by means of the Atmel Model ATmega 328-P microcontroller, which allows the manipulation of three degrees of freedom of the shoulder, elbow, and a gripper. It is operated remotely in real time. A Microsoft Kinect motion sensor was used. Its function is to delimit the reference points of a human arm. It reproduced the movement of the shoulder and its elbow. Besides, the movements of the wrist with its gripper were also generated. The motion sensor was controlled by a computer system implemented with Visual Studio. Through this, the information was processed. The data obtained was sent through an USB to the microcontroller to be interpreted and executed physically. Five PWM (pulse width modulation) output ports were employed. Each one was connected to a servomotor that drives the movement of the robotic arm. During the evaluation, there is any contact of the individual with the set up.