Industrial Robotic Arm Simulation and Control System

 Mini Project Title: Industrial Robotic Arm Simulation and Control System

Project Overview: This mini project focuses on simulating a 5-axis industrial robotic arm using Blender and controlling it via an Android application developed with MIT App Inventor. The Android app sends control signals over Bluetooth to an ESP32 microcontroller, which interprets the data and controls the movements of the robotic arm parts within the simulation.

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Hardware Components:

• ESP32 Development Board

• USB Cable (for power and programming)

• Android Smartphone

Software Components:

• Blender (for 3D simulation and animation of the robot)

• MIT App Inventor (for creating the mobile control application)

• Arduino IDE (for programming the ESP32)

Key Features:

1. Bluetooth Communication:

   • ESP32 receives data from the MIT App Inventor mobile app.

   • Data consists of movement commands for five individual parts of the robotic arm.

2. Mobile App Functionality:

   • UI with five sliders labeled PART 1 to PART 5.

   • Displays Bluetooth connection status.

   • Sends real-time control values to ESP32.

3. Robot Arm Simulation:

   • Designed and animated in Blender.

   • Five parts with different degrees of freedom:

     • PART 1: Base rotation (0° to 360°)

     • PART 2: Lower arm up/down movement

     • PART 3: Upper arm up/down movement

     • PART 4: End-effector or wrist movement

     • PART 5: Gripper open/close (grab/pick objects)

4. ESP32 Functionality:

   • Connects with the mobile app via Bluetooth.

   • Parses and processes the received values.

   • Controls the simulation parameters within Blender via serial or websocket communication (if integrated with Blender scripting).

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Working Principle:

• The user adjusts sliders in the mobile app.

• ESP32 receives and decodes the slider values.

• Send the data through Serial communication to Blender Sim.

• Corresponding transformation is applied to the robotic arm joints in the Blender simulation.

• The robot performs the motion virtually as per the user input.

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Applications:

• Educational training for robotics and automation.

• Prototype for remote robotic arm control.

• Foundation for real-world robotic manipulators in industries.

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Future Improvements:

• Real-time Blender simulation using WebSocket for live control.

• Feedback system from simulation to mobile app.

• Integration with physical robotic arms.

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Platform Used:

• Blender (3D Modeling & Animation)

• MIT App Inventor (Mobile App)

• ESP32

Screenshots Reference:

• Robot simulation screenshots showing motion stages.

• Android app interface with control sliders.

• ESP32 module powered and connected via Bluetooth.