Hello techies,
I am a final year student from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune. I along with my three group members have carried out 2 projects at Dassault Systèmes, Pune. I was working on projects to create virtual labs under machine design and robotics domain using 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This was a 5-month long assignment in which I learned about how to use CATIA Dymola behavior Modeling for modeling and simulation of multi domain systems. Talking about the first project under machine design, we created blocks to define design parameters for the major and important components of IC engine.
Before undertaking this Project, you need to have some basic understanding of Modelica language, for which we referred Modelica documentation and basic concepts of object-oriented programming. We created blocks for design of each component which would take some input parameters according to the specification for which you want to design the IC Engine component. The blocks are created by defining them through a certain code, which we have designed for components individually. Once you enter the input parameters that are required for the specific block and simulate it, you will get the results containing the design parameters for that particular component.
We created such blocks for Piston, Cylinder, Centre Crankshaft, Side Crankshaft, Connecting Rod, Exhaust Valve, Spring for exhaust Valve separately.
Second project that we did was under robotics domain. While the behavior modeling application does enable its users to program and manipulate the task function of a six degrees of freedom robotic arm, specifically the Kuka Kr60 model, we thought it appropriate to approach it with a kinematics viewpoint. The Kuka Kr60 is a six DOF industry standard robotic arm that is used extensively in manufacturing plants to carry out programmable tasks in assembly lines. In this virtual lab, we focused on the kinematics and mechanics of this particular model.
Given the starting angles of the motors in all the six joints of the Kuka Kr60, it is possible to determine their end angles and the roll, pitch, and yaw of the end effector simply by knowing the position of end effector and without knowing the electrical gain on the joint motors and the velocity imparted to each link of the robotic arm. This can be inferred by implementing the forward and inverse kinematic algorithm on certain parameters of the Kr60. The aim of this lab is, therefore, to familiarize students with the basics of robotic manipulation and determine the end angles of the joints with the help of rotational and translational matrices. The source on these algorithms is given below. Please refer this source for further explanation of this concept.
"Worldcomp-Proceedings.Com" http://worldcomp-proceedings.com/proc/p2015/CSC2593.pdf
The setup and the connections of the Kuka Kr60 with the serial bus
Forward kinematics problem is finding the position and orientation of the end effector of the robot by a given set of joint angles and also having D-H parameters of the robot. This section explains an analytical method for solving the forward kinematics problem of a KUKA KR60.
The following four transformation parameters are known as D–H parameters:
d: offset along previous z to the common normal
Theta: angle about previous z, from old x to new
a: length of the common normal. Assuming a revolute joint, this is the radius about previous z.
alpha: angle about common normal, from old z axis to new z axis
A robot manipulator’s forward kinematics problem is solved by attaching a single frame to each joint along with the robot’s base. Each frame describes the position and orientation of each joint of the robot relative to the base or any other global coordinate. Attaching these frames to the joints reduces the calculation of the robot’s end effector’s position and orientation to a coordinate translation problem which is solved by transformation matrices. Therefore, every joint has a position and orientation relative to its previous joint.
While this straight forward kinematics approach is not suitable for simulation or task programing of the robotic arm, we sincerely hope that this lab will impart the students with the basic principles of robotic manipulators.
VIT, Pune thank Dassault Systemes to give us opportunity to be a part of Vlab Project. Through this project, learning contents for virtual labs were created using Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE Platform.
The onboarding was a seamless experience. I did a course on Dymola Behavior modeling essentials for students, which helped in understanding platform in a better sense. The system designing approach was learnt. The software provided various libraries which enabled effective designing of the desired circuit and implementation of the same. The interface enabled students to simulate and obtain the desired results without difficulty.
Due to the current pandemic, education has been affected severely, due to the inability to perform practical experiments at college, students being exposed to theory alone, can now work on the available content on Virtual labs especially in such difficult times when carrying out physical tests can prove to be difficult, which effectively enhances their learnings as capable engineers. Also, many lab facilities across the globe also lack the necessary equipment to impart this knowledge via laboratory practical’s and we believe that such virtual labs are a step towards the right direction for this particular problem.
Collaborating and simulating on cloud was a unique experience, where usage of cloud helped to save our progress online and also helped other people in the group to be familiar with each other’s progress.
Students Involved:
1) @PJ
2) @RH
3) @YS
4) @PT
Edu 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA Dymola Behavior Modeling Work Showcase Virtual Labs
