Published August 17, 2018 © GPL3+

Arduino - Control Arm Robot via Web

This project shows how to control a 6DOF robot arm via web.

IntermediateFull instructions provided42,647

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

DIYables USB Cable 2.0 Type A/B for Arduino Uno

PHPoC WiFi Shield for Arduino

6DOF Arm Robot

DIYables Jumper Wires

DIYables Prototype Expansion Board for Arduino Uno

Optional

DIYables Starter Kit

Story

If you are beginner, I recommend reading the following tutorials:

1. Demonstration

2. User Interface

The robot arm has 6 motors.

Zone A: Control motor 2, 3, 4 (control three hand joints)
Zone B: Control motor 1 (control base)
Zone C: Control motor 5 (control rotation of gripper)
Zone D: Control motor 6 (control gripper)

3. System Architecture

4. Working Flow

Client Side (web user interface - written in JavaScript + HTML + CSS)

When a user touches or sweeps finger (or clicks or moves mouse), we can get coordinate (x, y). The working flow is as follows:

In case of Zone A, to calculate angles of motor 2, 3, 4, we need to do some geometric calculation. You can refer to it at the end of this page.

Server Side (Arduino code):

Once receiving a set of angles from clients, six motors moves from the current angles to the new angles gradually. Six motor should move and reach new angles at the same time. Before going into detail how to control all motors, let’s look at how to control a single motor. Suppose that we want to move a motor from current angle (angle) to new angle (new_angle). Since speed of motor is high, we should slow down it. To do like that, two following steps are repeated until the motor reach new angle:

Move motor with a small step.
Pause a small time and then move another step.

The following diagram illustrates the above scheme in case new angle is greater than current angle:

Wherestep_numis number of steps the motor has to take.step and timeis predefined values. Two later ones decide the speed and smoothness. The above is just only for one robot. To make robots start to move and reach destination at the same time, we can do as follows: Six motors take the same step_num, but step of each motor is different from each other. So we have to choose step_num in this project is maximum.

Generally, working flow of Arduino is as follows:

5. Geometric Calculation

Let’s make a robot arm calculation into the following geometry problem:

Known

C is fixed
A known point - D is the input from user
A known point - CB, BA, AD (denoted by b, a, d respectively)
Lengths of each arm segments Find: angles C, B, A Solution:
Make assumption that angle B and A are the same
Add some additional points and segment

Calculation

We knew points C and D => we can calculate the length of DC (denoted by c)
We can also calculate the δ
Look at triangle ABE, we can infer that AE = BE and ∠E = π - 2α.
So:

The Law of Cosines in triangle CDE:

Change (1) and (2) into (3), we have:

Simplify

Simplify the above:

Since we know a, b, c and d, solve the above quadratic equation, we can calculate the value of α. - And β = π – α - Until now we found β, let’s find γ - The Law of Cosines in triangles BDC and BDA:

Solve this set of equations, we can calculate γ.
So, their required angles is: (δ+γ), β and β. These are angles of motors 2, 3 and 4, respectively.

6. Source Code

Source code inlude two files:

RobotArmWeb.ino: Arduino code
Remote_arm.php: Web app code, which is uploaded to PHPoC WiFi Shield or PHPoC Shield. (See instruction in this article.)

You also need to upload the image file flywheel.png to PHPoC Shield.

flywheel.png

The Best Arduino Starter Kit for Beginner

If you are looking for an Arduino kit, see The Best Arduino Kit for Beginners

Function References

Code

#include <Phpoc.h>
#include <Servo.h>

int angle_init[]	= {90, 101, 165, 153, 90, 120}; // when motor stands straight. In web, the angle when motor stands straight is {0, 90, 130, 180, 0, 0};
int angle_offset[]	= {0, 11, -15, -27, 0, 137}; // offset between real servo motor and angle on web
int cur_angles[]	= {90, 101, 165, 153, 90, 120}; // current angles of six motors (degree) 
int dest_angles[]	= {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}; // destined angles
int angle_max[]		= {180, 180, 160, 120, 180, 137};
int angle_min[]		= { 0, 0, 0, 20, 0, 75};
int direction[]		= {1, 1, 1, 1, 1 ,-1};
int angleSteps[]	= {3, 2, 2, 2, 4 ,4}; // moving steps of each motor (degree)

Servo servo1;
Servo servo2;
Servo servo3;
Servo servo4;
Servo servo5;
Servo servo6;

Servo servo[6] = {servo1, servo2, servo3, servo4, servo5, servo6};

PhpocServer server(80);
PhpocClient client;

int stepNum = 0;

void setup(){
	Serial.begin(9600);

	Phpoc.begin(PF_LOG_SPI | PF_LOG_NET);
	server.beginWebSocket("remote_arm");

	servo1.attach(2);  // attaches the servo on pin 2 to the servo object
	servo2.attach(3);  // attaches the servo on pin 3 to the servo object
	servo3.attach(4);  // attaches the servo on pin 4 to the servo object
	servo4.attach(5);  // attaches the servo on pin 5 to the servo object
	servo5.attach(6);  // attaches the servo on pin 6 to the servo object
	servo6.attach(7);  // attaches the servo on pin 7 to the servo object

	for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
		servo[i].write(angle_init[i]);
}

void loop() {
	PhpocClient client = server.available();

	if(client) {
		String angleStr = client.readLine();

		if(angleStr) {
			Serial.println(angleStr);
			int commaPos1 = -1;
			int commaPos2;

			for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
				commaPos2 = angleStr.indexOf(',', commaPos1 + 1);
				int angle = angleStr.substring(commaPos1 + 1, commaPos2).toInt();
				dest_angles[i] = angle * direction[i] + angle_offset[i];
				commaPos1 = commaPos2;
			}

			int angle5 = angleStr.substring(commaPos1 + 1).toInt();
			dest_angles[5] = angle5 * direction[5] + angle_offset[5];

			stepNum = 0;

			// move motors in many small steps to make motor move smooth, avoiding move motor suddently. The below is step calculation
			for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
				int dif = abs(cur_angles[i] - dest_angles[i]);
				int step = dif / angleSteps[i];

				if(stepNum < step)
					stepNum = step;
			}
		}
	}

	// move motors step by step
	if(stepNum > 0) {
		for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
			int angleStepMove = (dest_angles[i] - cur_angles[i]) / stepNum;
			cur_angles[i] += angleStepMove;

			if(cur_angles[i] > angle_max[i])
				cur_angles[i] = angle_max[i];
			else if(cur_angles[i] < angle_min[i])
				cur_angles[i] = angle_min[i];

			servo[i].write(cur_angles[i]);
		}

		stepNum--;
		delay(20);
	}
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Arduino - Arm Robot - Web</title>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=0.9">
<style>
body { text-align: center; }
canvas { background-color: #FFFFFF; }
</style>
<script>
var MOTOR_1 = 0;
var MOTOR_2 = 1;
var MOTOR_3 = 2;
var MOTOR_4 = 3;
var MOTOR_5 = 4;
var MOTOR_6 = 5;

var ARM_LENGTH_1 = 95;
var ARM_LENGTH_2 = 88;
var ARM_LENGTH_3 = 155;

var SOLE_WIDTH = 160;
var SOLE_HEIGHT = 73;

var flywheel_img = new Image();
flywheel_img.src = "flywheel.png";

var zone_A_radius = ARM_LENGTH_1 + ARM_LENGTH_2 + ARM_LENGTH_3;

var pivot_x = zone_A_radius + 5;
var pivot_y = zone_A_radius + 5;

var zone_B_radius = 100;
var zone_B_center_x = pivot_x / 2;
var zone_B_center_y = -(zone_B_radius + SOLE_HEIGHT + 20);
var zone_B_last_angle = 0;

var zone_C_radius = 70;
var zone_C_center_x = -pivot_x / 2;
var zone_C_center_y = -(zone_B_radius + SOLE_HEIGHT + 20);
var zone_C_last_angle = 0;

var zone_D_width = 30;
var zone_D_height = 200.0;
var zone_D_center_x = 0;
var zone_D_center_y = -(zone_B_radius + SOLE_HEIGHT + 110);
var grip_height = 70;
var grip_width = 100;

var canvas_width = zone_A_radius * 2 + 10;
var canvas_height = zone_A_radius  + SOLE_HEIGHT + zone_B_radius * 2 + 180;

var grip_max_angle = 62.0; // 62 degree

var click_state = 0;
var mouse_xyra = {x:0, y:0, r:0.0, a:0.0};
var angles = [90, 90, 180, 180, 90, 17];

var ws = null;
var servo = null, ctx = null;

var last_time;

var a = 0, b = 0, c = 0;

function init()
{
	servo = document.getElementById("servo");
	servo.width = canvas_width;
	servo.height = canvas_height;

	servo.addEventListener("touchstart", mouse_down);
	servo.addEventListener("touchend", mouse_up);
	servo.addEventListener("touchmove", mouse_move);
	servo.addEventListener("mousedown", mouse_down);
	servo.addEventListener("mouseup", mouse_up);
	servo.addEventListener("mousemove", mouse_move);

	ctx = servo.getContext("2d");

	ctx.translate(pivot_x, pivot_y);
	ctx.rotate(Math.PI);

	// quadratic equation parameters
	a = 4*ARM_LENGTH_1*ARM_LENGTH_3;
	b = 2*(ARM_LENGTH_2*ARM_LENGTH_1 + ARM_LENGTH_2*ARM_LENGTH_3);
	c = Math.pow(ARM_LENGTH_1, 2) + Math.pow(ARM_LENGTH_2, 2)  + Math.pow(ARM_LENGTH_3, 2) - 2*ARM_LENGTH_1*ARM_LENGTH_3;
}
function update_view()
{
	ctx.clearRect(-canvas_width/2, -SOLE_HEIGHT, canvas_width, canvas_height);
	ctx.save();

	//draw zone A
	ctx.fillStyle = "#D9D9D9";
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.arc(0,0,zone_A_radius, 0, 2*Math.PI);
	ctx.fill();
	
	ctx.fillStyle = "#FFFFFF";
	ctx.fillRect(-pivot_x , -canvas_height + pivot_y, canvas_width, canvas_height - pivot_y - SOLE_HEIGHT);

	// draw arm segments
	ctx.strokeStyle="#00979D";
	ctx.fillStyle = "#FF4500";
	ctx.lineWidth = 20;
	ctx.rotate(angles[MOTOR_2] / 180 * Math.PI);
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.moveTo(0,0);
	ctx.lineTo(ARM_LENGTH_1,0);
	ctx.stroke();
	draw_pivot(0, 0);

	ctx.translate(ARM_LENGTH_1,0);
	ctx.rotate(-Math.PI + angles[MOTOR_3] / 180 * Math.PI);
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.moveTo(0,0);
	ctx.lineTo(ARM_LENGTH_2, 0);
	ctx.stroke();
	draw_pivot(0, 0);

	ctx.translate(ARM_LENGTH_2,0);
	ctx.rotate(-Math.PI + angles[MOTOR_4] / 180 * Math.PI);
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.moveTo(0,0);
	ctx.lineTo(ARM_LENGTH_3, 0);
	ctx.stroke();
	draw_pivot(0, 0);

	ctx.restore();

	ctx.strokeStyle = "#00979D";
	ctx.lineWidth = 6;

	// draw zone B
	angle = (angles[MOTOR_1] + 45) * Math.PI / 180;
	ctx.save();
	ctx.translate(zone_B_center_x, zone_B_center_y);
	ctx.rotate(angle);
	ctx.drawImage(flywheel_img, - zone_B_radius, - zone_B_radius, zone_B_radius * 2, zone_B_radius * 2);
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.arc(0, 0, zone_B_radius, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
	ctx.stroke();
	ctx.restore();

	// draw zone C
	angle = (angles[MOTOR_5] + 45) * Math.PI / 180;
	ctx.save();
	ctx.translate(zone_C_center_x, zone_C_center_y);
	ctx.rotate(angle);
	ctx.drawImage(flywheel_img, - zone_C_radius, - zone_C_radius, zone_C_radius * 2, zone_C_radius * 2);
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.arc(0, 0, zone_C_radius, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
	ctx.stroke();
	ctx.restore();

	// draw zone D
	ctx.fillStyle = "#00DEE6";
	ctx.lineWidth = 15;
	var grip_dist = Math.floor(angles[MOTOR_6] / grip_max_angle * zone_D_height);
	ctx.fillRect(zone_D_center_x - zone_D_width / 2, zone_D_center_y - zone_D_height / 2, zone_D_width, zone_D_height);

	ctx.lineWidth = 1;
	ctx.strokeStyle = "#FFFFFF";

	var center_x = zone_D_center_x;
	var center_y = zone_D_center_y + grip_dist / 2;

	var grd = ctx.createLinearGradient(center_x, center_y, center_x, center_y  + grip_height);
	grd.addColorStop(0,"#004A4D");
	grd.addColorStop(1,"#b3fcff");
	ctx.fillStyle = grd;
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.moveTo(center_x + grip_width / 2, center_y);
	ctx.bezierCurveTo(center_x + grip_width / 4, center_y + grip_height, center_x - grip_width / 4, center_y + grip_height,center_x - grip_width / 2, center_y);
	ctx.closePath();
	ctx.fill();
	ctx.stroke();

	center_x = zone_D_center_x;
	center_y = zone_D_center_y - grip_dist / 2;

	grd = ctx.createLinearGradient(center_x, center_y, center_x, center_y  - grip_height);
	grd.addColorStop(0,"#004A4D");
	grd.addColorStop(1,"#b3fcff");
	ctx.fillStyle = grd;
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.moveTo(center_x + grip_width / 2, center_y);
	ctx.bezierCurveTo(center_x + grip_width / 4, center_y - grip_height, center_x - grip_width / 4, center_y - grip_height,center_x - grip_width / 2, center_y);
	ctx.closePath();
	ctx.fill();
	ctx.stroke();

	ctx.restore();

	// draw sole
	ctx.fillStyle = "#006468";
	ctx.fillRect(-SOLE_WIDTH/2, -SOLE_HEIGHT, SOLE_WIDTH, SOLE_HEIGHT);
}
function event_handler(event)
{
	var x, y, r, alpha;
	// convert coordinate
	if(event.touches)
	{
		var touches = event.touches;

		x = (touches[0].pageX - touches[0].target.offsetLeft) - pivot_x;
		y = (touches[0].pageY - touches[0].target.offsetTop) - pivot_y;

	}
	else
	{
		x = event.offsetX - pivot_x;
		y = event.offsetY - pivot_y;
	}
	x = -x;
	y = -y;

	//check whether it's located in zone A or not
	r = Math.sqrt(x * x + y * y);

	if(r < zone_A_radius && y > -SOLE_HEIGHT)
	{
		if((x < SOLE_WIDTH/2) && (x > -SOLE_WIDTH/2) && (y < 0))
			return false;

		alpha = Math.atan2(y, x);

		if(alpha < 0)
			alpha += 2*Math.PI;

		mouse_xyra.x = x;
		mouse_xyra.y = y;
		mouse_xyra.r = r;
		mouse_xyra.a = alpha;

		if(geometric_calculation())
			return true;
	}

	//check whether it's located in zone B or not
	temp_x = x - zone_B_center_x;
	temp_y = y - zone_B_center_y;
	var distance = Math.sqrt(temp_x * temp_x + temp_y * temp_y);

	if(distance < zone_B_radius)
	{
		var angle = Math.atan2(temp_y, temp_x)* 180 / Math.PI;

		if(click_state == 0)
			zone_B_last_angle = angle;
		else
		{
			if((Math.abs(angle) > 90) && (angle * zone_B_last_angle < 0))
			{
				if(zone_B_last_angle > 0)
					zone_B_last_angle = -180;
				else
					zone_B_last_angle = 180;
			}

			angles[MOTOR_1] += Math.floor(angle - zone_B_last_angle);

			angles[MOTOR_1] = Math.max(0, angles[MOTOR_1]);
			angles[MOTOR_1] = Math.min(180, angles[MOTOR_1]);

			zone_B_last_angle = angle;
		}
		return true;
	}

	//check whether it's located in zone C or not
	temp_x = x - zone_C_center_x;
	temp_y = y - zone_C_center_y;
	var distance = Math.sqrt(temp_x * temp_x + temp_y * temp_y);

	if(distance < zone_C_radius)
	{
		var angle = Math.atan2(temp_y, temp_x)* 180 / Math.PI;

		if(click_state == 0)
			zone_C_last_angle = angle;
		else
		{
			if((Math.abs(angle) > 90) && (angle * zone_C_last_angle < 0))
			{
				if(zone_C_last_angle > 0)
					zone_C_last_angle = -180;
				else
					zone_C_last_angle = 180;
			}

			angles[MOTOR_5] += Math.floor(angle - zone_C_last_angle);

			angles[MOTOR_5] = Math.max(0, angles[MOTOR_5]);
			angles[MOTOR_5] = Math.min(180, angles[MOTOR_5]);

			zone_C_last_angle = angle;
		}
		return true;
	}

	//check whether it's located in zone D or not
	var temp_x = Math.abs(x - zone_D_center_x);
	var temp_y = Math.abs(y - zone_D_center_y);

	if(temp_x < (zone_D_width / 2) && temp_y < (zone_D_height / 2))
	{
		var angle = temp_y / (zone_D_height / 2) * grip_max_angle;
		angles[MOTOR_6] = Math.floor(angle);
		console.log(angles[MOTOR_6]);
		return true;
	}

	return false;
}
function geometric_calculation()
{
	var c_ = c - Math.pow(mouse_xyra.r, 2);
	var delta = b*b - 4*a*c_;
	if(delta < 0)
		return false; // no root

	var x1 = 0, x2 = 0;
	var x = 0;
	var cos_C = 0;
	var alpha = 0, beta = 0, gamma = 0;

	x1 = (-b + Math.sqrt(delta)) / (2*a);
	x2 = (-b - Math.sqrt(delta)) / (2*a);
	x = x1;

	if(x > 1)
		return false;

	alpha = Math.acos(x);
	alpha = alpha * 180 / Math.PI;
	beta = 180 - alpha;
	cos_C = Math.pow(mouse_xyra.r, 2) + Math.pow(ARM_LENGTH_1, 2) - ( Math.pow(ARM_LENGTH_2, 2) + Math.pow(ARM_LENGTH_3, 2) + 2*ARM_LENGTH_2*ARM_LENGTH_3*x );

	cos_C = cos_C /(2*mouse_xyra.r*ARM_LENGTH_1);
	angle_C = Math.acos(cos_C);
	gamma = (angle_C + mouse_xyra.a) % (2*Math.PI);
	gamma = gamma * 180 / Math.PI;

	if(gamma < 0)
		gamma += 360;

	if(gamma > 180)
	{
		var temp = gamma -  mouse_xyra.a * 180 / Math.PI;
		gamma = gamma - 2* temp;
		beta = 360 - beta;
	}

	if(gamma < 0 || gamma > 180)
		return false;

	angles[MOTOR_3] = Math.floor(beta);
	angles[MOTOR_4] = Math.floor(beta);
	angles[MOTOR_2] = Math.floor(gamma);

	return true;
}
function draw_pivot(x, y)
{
	ctx.beginPath();
	ctx.arc(x,y, 10, 0, 2*Math.PI);
	ctx.stroke();
	ctx.fill();
}
function ws_onmessage(e_msg)
{
	e_msg = e_msg || window.event; // MessageEvent
}
function ws_onopen()
{
	document.getElementById("ws_state").innerHTML = "OPEN";
	document.getElementById("wc_conn").innerHTML = "Disconnect";
	angles_change_notice();

	update_view();
}
function ws_onclose()
{
	document.getElementById("ws_state").innerHTML = "CLOSED";
	document.getElementById("wc_conn").innerHTML = "Connect";
	console.log("socket was closed");
	ws.onopen = null;
	ws.onclose = null;
	ws.onmessage = null;
	ws = null;
}
function wc_onclick()
{
	if(ws == null)
	{
		ws = new WebSocket("ws://<?echo _SERVER("HTTP_HOST")?>/remote_arm", "text.phpoc");
		document.getElementById("ws_state").innerHTML = "CONNECTING";

		ws.onopen = ws_onopen;
		ws.onclose = ws_onclose;
		ws.onmessage = ws_onmessage;  
	}
	else
		ws.close();
}
function mouse_down()
{
	if(ws == null)
		return;

	if(event.touches && (event.touches.length > 1))
		click_state = event.touches.length;

	if(click_state > 1)
		return;

	var state = event_handler(event);
	if(state)
	{
		click_state = 1;
		angles_change_notice();
	}

	event.preventDefault();
}
function mouse_up()
{
	click_state = 0;
}
function mouse_move()
{
	if(ws == null)
		return;

	var d = new Date();
	var time = d.getTime();
	if((time - last_time) < 50)
		return;

	last_time = time;

	if(event.touches && (event.touches.length > 1))
		click_state = event.touches.length;

	if(click_state > 1)
		return;

	if(!click_state)
		return;

	var state = event_handler(event);
	if(state)
	{
		click_state = 1;
		angles_change_notice();
	}

	event.preventDefault();
}
function angles_change_notice()
{
	if(ws != null && ws.readyState == 1)
	{
		ws.send(angles.join(",") + "\r\n");
		update_view(); 
	}
}
window.onload = init;
setTimeout(function(){ update_view();}, 500);
</script>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Arduino - Control Arm Robot via Web</h2>
<canvas id="servo"></canvas>
<p>WebSocket : <span id="ws_state">null</span><br></p>
<button id="wc_conn" type="button" onclick="wc_onclick();">Connect</button>
</body>
</html>

Credits

phpoc_man

62 projects • 408 followers

Arduino - Control Arm Robot via Web

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

1. Demonstration

2. User Interface

3. System Architecture

4. Working Flow

5. Geometric Calculation

6. Source Code

The Best Arduino Starter Kit for Beginner

Function References

Schematics

Schematic

Code

RobotArmWeb

remote_arm.php

Credits

phpoc_man

Comments

Embed the widget on your own site

Arduino - Control Arm Robot via Web

Arduino - Control Arm Robot via Web

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

1. Demonstration

2. User Interface

3. System Architecture

4. Working Flow

5. Geometric Calculation

6. Source Code

The Best Arduino Starter Kit for Beginner

Function References

Schematics

Schematic

Code

RobotArmWeb

remote_arm.php

Credits

phpoc_man

Comments

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