When discussing projects we wanted to do for this class, something we kept coming back to is a robotic arm. Since the focus of this project is creating linkage mechanisms, we aimed to create a robotic arm that has a complex motion from a singular input motor. This complex motion consists of rotation, like a human arm about the shoulder joint, and extension, like the movement of the hand relative to the shoulder using the elbow joint.
A common setting for robotic arms are assembly lines and warehouses. See the video linked below, as well as many of the other videos available on the webpage. Each arm has actuators at various joints, each greatly increasing the cost to produce and purchase these arms. A robotic arm with a singular input would be cheaper to manufacture and purchase, while still maintaining efficiency along the assembly line. Thus, we decided on an assembly line arm and grabber for our project.
