Design and simulation of light weight arm based on Elderly/disabled life assist robot

This paper introduces a new prototype of cost-efficient light weight arm based on Elderly/disabled life assist robot. The arm with three joints is a four DOF manipulator. It implements a well-fitted combination of parallel and serial mechanisms and a double DOF joint with planetary gearing structure, which brings realization of a high weight ratio. The model built in CAD is uploaded into MATLAB for animation and the operation process of simulation is visualized by GUI. After having calculated the input spatial coordinates in GUI via programs with inverse kinematics principle, and running modules based on Simulink, each joint will revolute calculated angle to get the desired position in animation, demonstrating the mechanical design. The concept in this paper about light weight design can be applied to other related researches.