Path planning 2D plotting machine for efficient automated PCB drilling.
Path planning 2D plotting machine for efficient automated PCB drilling.
S.C Alwis, A.S Premarathna, Y.P Fonseka, S.M Samarasinghe J. Wijayakulasooriya
ABSTRACT
2D vector plotters are designed to take a pointer to any given coordinate in the xy plane. An application of this plotting device is in PCB drilling. In PCB drilling the location of the drill holes are fed into the system which will drill the PCB at the specified coordinates. The main objective of this project is to be able to take a pointer to these set of coordinates along the shortest path. The parameter measured is the length of the path taken. Path planning and implementing a shortest path algorithm for a set of PCB drill points is the main goal. Path planning ensures that all the points are visited once and optimizes the use of the motors and other mechanical paths involved in the process while also reducing the time taken.
Key words: shortest path algorithm, PCB drill holes, path planning
1. Introduction
Making PCBs is an involving process that every mechatronics, electronics engineering student has to go through. Not least among its many tasks is the act of drilling the PCB holes which needs both precision and patience and which can lead to countless frustrations among beginners. We therefore undertook to come up with an automated PCB drilling machine that could be used by students in this process. The main goal of the project was twofold one was to enable students to use this machine with only a basic knowledge of circuit designing software and the next and most importantly was using a path planning algorithm to complete the job efficiently. It is also assumed here that all drill holes are of the same size and shape.
Robotic arms are the basic technology employed in most automated systems. A robotic arm can exhibit two types of motion linear and rotational. Types of robotic arms include,
Cartesian robot arms: Have three axis linear motion using prismatic joints at right angles to
S.C Alwis, A.S Premarathna, Y.P Fonseka, S.M Samarasinghe J. Wijayakulasooriya
ABSTRACT
2D vector plotters are designed to take a pointer to any given coordinate in the xy plane. An application of this plotting device is in PCB drilling. In PCB drilling the location of the drill holes are fed into the system which will drill the PCB at the specified coordinates. The main objective of this project is to be able to take a pointer to these set of coordinates along the shortest path. The parameter measured is the length of the path taken. Path planning and implementing a shortest path algorithm for a set of PCB drill points is the main goal. Path planning ensures that all the points are visited once and optimizes the use of the motors and other mechanical paths involved in the process while also reducing the time taken.
Key words: shortest path algorithm, PCB drill holes, path planning
1. Introduction
Making PCBs is an involving process that every mechatronics, electronics engineering student has to go through. Not least among its many tasks is the act of drilling the PCB holes which needs both precision and patience and which can lead to countless frustrations among beginners. We therefore undertook to come up with an automated PCB drilling machine that could be used by students in this process. The main goal of the project was twofold one was to enable students to use this machine with only a basic knowledge of circuit designing software and the next and most importantly was using a path planning algorithm to complete the job efficiently. It is also assumed here that all drill holes are of the same size and shape.
Robotic arms are the basic technology employed in most automated systems. A robotic arm can exhibit two types of motion linear and rotational. Types of robotic arms include,
Cartesian robot arms: Have three axis linear motion using prismatic joints at right angles to
References: [1] The difference between Cartesian, six-axis, and SCARA robots by Richard Vaughn, Senior Automation Engineer. http://machinedesign.com/motion-control/difference-between-cartesian-six-axis-and-scara-robots [2] Heuristics for the traveling salesman Problem, Christian Nilsson, Linkoping University