Universal six-joint robot controller

The authors describe the specifications, design, and implementation of a general-purpose six-axis robotic manipulator controller developed to serve as a research tool for investigating practical and theoretical aspects of control strategies in robotics. The 80286-based Intel System 310 was used for running the XENIX operating servo software as well as higher-level software that implements kinematics and path planning. A multibus-compatible interface board was designed and constructed to handle input/output signals from the joint motors of the robot manipulator. The universal controller is capable of driving robot manipulators equipped with electric joint motors and position optical encoders. To test functionality, the controller was connected to the joint motor DC power amplifier of a Unimate PUMA 560 arm, bypassing completely the manufacturer-supplied Unimation controller; proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control laws were installed into the XENIX operating system. Additional software drivers were implemented to allow application programs access to the interface board. All software was written in the C language.<>