Introduction to Robotics
Cheat sheet
Robotics basics on one card
Intro robotics on one card: can you fill each line first?
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Lesson notes
Tell Cartesian, cylindrical, spherical, SCARA and articulated robots apart by workspace
Key points
- Sense-think-act: A robot senses its world, decides, then acts, looping continuously.
- DOF: Number of independent parameters needed to specify the mechanism's configuration.
- Grübler (planar): Planar DOF equals three times n minus one, minus two j1 minus j2.
- Workspace: All points the end-effector can reach, shaped by joint limits and geometry.
- SCARA vs articulated: SCARA for flat fast assembly; articulated for welding and complex 3D reach.
Takeaway: Sense-think-act, count DOF, then match workspace to the task.
Quick check: In Grübler's planar formula, how many DOF does each lower pair remove?
- Two
- One
- Three
A full joint like revolute or prismatic removes two of a planar link's three DOF.
workspaceSCARAarticulated robot
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