MobileRobots Inc.
Figure 1. The Pioneer Arm on
a 3-DX
Introduction
Chapter 1
Congratulations on your purchase of M
OBILE
R
OBOTS
’ multi-jointed
robotic arm for the Pioneer family of mobile robots.
This manual provides both the general and technical details you
need to operate your Pioneer Arm and to begin developing your
own control software integrated with other mobile robot
activities.
The Pioneer Platform
Pioneers are small, intelligent mobile robots. The basic Pioneer platform contains all of the
components of an intelligent mobile robot for sensing and navigation in a real-world environment,
including battery power, drive motors and wheels, position encoders, and range-finding ultrasonic
sonar transducers—all managed via either a Siemens C166-, an Hitachi H8S-, or a Renesas SH2-based
controller board.
Pioneer DX models are two-wheel, differential-drive mobile robots intended for indoor, albeit less-than-
ideal surface operation (wheelchair accessible areas, for example). Performance PeopleBot™, too, is
a Pioneer differential-drive robot. Its tall body is for human interaction studies and applications. The
Pioneer AT is a four-wheel drive, differential skid-steering version intended for outdoor, all-terrain (AT)
operation. Technically, the Pioneer platforms are nearly identical and share accessories, including the
Pioneer Arm.
All Pioneer robots come with onboard robotics server software. These operating systems have an
open API for client control of the robot’s systems and accessories. Users access the onboard servers
through an RS-232 serial communication port from their client workstation connected wirelessly, or
tethered via a piggyback laptop or integrated onboard PC. See your robot’s
Operations Manual
for
details.
The Pioneer Arm
The Pioneer Arm is a relatively low-cost robot accessory for use in research and in the classroom.
Driven by six open-loop servo motors, the five degrees-of-freedom (5-DOF) Pioneer Arm’s end-effector
is a gripper whose foam-lined fingers allow for firm grasp and manipulation of objects as large as a
soda can and as heavy as 150 grams throughout the arm’s envelope of operation.
Joints include:
9
rotating base
9
pivoting shoulder
9
pivoting elbow
9
rotating wrist
9
pivoting gripper mount
9
gripper fingers
All servo-driven joints, except for the gripper fingers, pivot or rotate at least 180 degrees. Mounted to
the front of the robot’s top plate, the Pioneer Arm has a very wide envelope of operation, reaching 50
centimeters from the center of its rotating base to the tip of its closed fingers. The Pioneer Arm’s
reach, therefore, lets you pick up objects from the floor in front of your Pioneer robot and place them
on its back.
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