Marcello Restelli

Dipartimento di Elettronica e
Informazione
Politecnico di Milano
email: restelli@elet.polimi.it Sensors and Actuators
tel: 02-2399-4015

Robotics
for Computer Engineering students

A.A. 2014/2015
 Effectors and Actuators

Effector
– Any device robot that has an impact on the
environment
– Effectors must match a robot’s task
– Controllers command the effectors to achieve the
desired task
Actuator
– A robot mechanism that enables the effector to
execute an action
Robot effectors are very different than biological ones
– Robots: wheels, tracks, legs, grippers
Robot actuators:
– Motors of various types
– Passive actuation
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 Types of Actuators

Electric motors
Hydraulics
Pneumatics
Photo-reactive materials
Chemically reactive materials
Thermally reactive materials
Piezoelectric materials

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 Most Popular Actuators

First robots used pneumatic and hydraulic actuators

– hydraulic actuators are expansive, weighing, and their
maintenance is hard
● used only in big robots
– pneumatic actuators are used for application requiring
stop-to-stop trajectories, such as pick-and-place
Nowadays the most common actuators are electrical
motors both DC and AC
– since these motors reach high speeds they are typically
reduced by gearing that make the dynamics more
complex
– typically each joint has its own motor, but it may happen
that the same motor may actuate several joints through
transmissions
– for stepper motors internal sensors are not required, but
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when an error occurs their position is unknown
 DC Motors

DC (direct current) motors

– Convert electrical energy into
mechanical energy
– Small, cheap, reasonably efficient,
easy to use
How do they work?
– Electrical current through loops of
wires mounted on a rotating shaft
– When current is flowing, loops of wire
generate a magnetic field, which
reacts against the magnetic fields of
permanent magnets positioned
around the wire loops
– These magnetic fields push against
one another and the armature turns
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DC Motors

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DC Motors

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DC Motors

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DC Motors

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DC Motors

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 DC Motors: Brushed and Brushless Motors

Brushes are used to change the magnetic polarity of the

electromagnet
Brushed motors are cheap but have many drawbacks
– Brushes eventually wear out
– Brushes make noise
– Limit the maximum speed
– Hard to cool
– Limit the number of poles
Brushless DC motors overcome these problems but
they are more expensive
– Brushes are replaced by computer
– Permanent magnets on the rotor
– Electromagnets on the stator
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 Operating/Stall Current

When provided with constant voltage, a DC motor

draws current proportional to how much work it is
doing
– Work = Force * Distance
When there is no resistance to its motion, the motor
draws the least amount of current
When the robot pushes against an obstacle motors
drain more current
If the resistance becomes very high the motor stalls
and draws the maximum amount of current (stall
current) at its specified voltage

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 Torque

Torque: rotational force that a motor can

deliver at a certain distance from the shaft
Strength of magnetic field generated in
loops of wire is directly proportional to
amount of current flowing through them
and thus the torque produced on motor's
shaft
The more current through a motor, the
more torque at the motor's shaft
Stall torque: the amount of rotational
force produced when the motor is stalled
at its recommended operating voltage,
drawing the maximal stall current at this
voltage
Torque units: ounces*inches or N*m
– 9.8 N*m torque means motor can pull a
weight of 1kg through a pulley 1m away
from shaft 13
 Power of a Motor

Power: product of the output

shaft's rotational velocity and
torque
If there is no load on the shaft
then P=0
– rotational velocity is
maximum, but the torque is 0
ωm
– the motor is spinning freely (
τ m= τ s 1− ω
max )
τ
If the motor stalled then P=0 (
ωm =ωmax 1− τm
s)
– it is producing its maximal
torque
– rotational velocity is zero
A motor produces the most
power in the middle of its
performance range 14
 Efficiency of a Motor

Motor efficiency is power out divided by power in

Poutput
η=
Pinput
Power out is mechanical energy
Poutput = τ⋅ω
Power in is electrical energy
Pinput =V⋅I I=
V s −V
R
e
V e = k e⋅ω

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 Motor Efficiency and Operating Voltage

DC motors are not perfectly efficient

– Due to friction some energy is wasted as heat
– Industrial-grade motors (good quality): 90%
– Toy motors (cheap): 50%
– Micro-motors for miniature robots < 50%
To make the motor run, electrical power must be
provided in the right voltage range
– if the voltage is lower than the motor runs fine even if
it is less powerful
– if the voltage is higher the life of the motor becomes
shorter

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 How Fast do Motor Turn?

Free spinning speeds (most motors)

– 3000-9000 RPM (50-150 Hz)
High speed, low torque
– drive light things that rotate very fast
What happens with heavy robots or manipulators?
– it is required more torque and less speed
The solution consists of using gearing
– Trade-off high speed for more torque

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 Gearing

Torque: T = F x r
– rotational force generated at the
center of a gear is equal to the
gear's radius times the force
applied tangential at the
circumference
Meshing gears:
– by combining gears with different
ratios we can control the amount
of force and torque generated
Example: r2 = 3r1
– Gear 1 turns 3 times while gear 2
turns only once
– T1*360 = T2*1080
– T2 = 3*T1 = T1*r2/r1 18
 Gearing Effect on Speed

Combining gears has a corresponding

effect on speed
– A gear with a small radius has to run
faster to keep up with a larger gear
● Increasing the gear radius reduces the
speed
● Decreasing the gear radius increases
the speed
Torque – Speed tradeoff
– when a small gear drives a large one,
torque is increased and speed is
decreased
– analogously, when a large gear drives
a small one, torque is decreased and
speed is increased
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 Designing Gear Teeth

Reduced backlash
– the looseness between mashing gear teeth
Tight meshing between gears
– increases friction
Proportionally sized gears
– a 24-tooth gear must have a radius three times the
size of an 8-tooth gear
Example
– Input (driving) gear: 8 teeth
– Output (driven) gear: 24 teeth
– Effect at the 24 teeth gear
● 1/3 reduction in speed
● 3 times increase in torque

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 Gear Reduction in Series

By putting two 3:1 gear

reductions in series
(“ganging”) a 9:1 gear
reduction is created
– the effect of each pair of
reductions is multiplied
– key to achieve useful power
from a DC motor
With such reductions, high
speeds and low torques are
transformed into usable
speeds and powerful torques

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 Motor Control: PWM

Motors can be controlled by modulating the input

voltage (or current)
Use of linear amplifier
Power inefficient and impractical
Alternative: Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
switch voltage ON/OFF
frequency from 2 to 20 kHz (against a 100Hz bandwith)
higher frequencies are preferred (non audible), but...
over-heat
voltage spikes
interference become prominent

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Motor Control: PWM

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Motor Control: PWM

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 Servo Motors

Specialized motors that can move their shaft to a specific

position
For DC motors is only possible to specify one direction
“Servo”
– capability to self-regulate its behavior, i.e. to measure its
own position and compensate for external loads when
corresponding to a control signal
– often used in hobby radio control applications
Servo motors are built from DC motors by adding
– Gear reduction
– Position sensor for the motor shaft
– Electronics that tell the motor how much to turn and in
what direction
Movement Limitations
– shaft travel is restricted to 180 degrees
– sufficient for most applications 25
 Sensors

Sensors allow a robot to accomplish more complex

tasks autonomously
Two main categories
– Internal sensors
– External sensors
● sensors with contact
● sensors without contact
Other classification
– Passive sensors (measure a physical property)
– Active sensors (emitter + detector)

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 Encoders

An encoder is a sensor for converting rotary motion

or position to a series of electronic pulses
Linear architecture
Consist of a long linear read track, together with a
compact read head
Rotary architecture
Serve as measuring sensors for rotary motion and for
linear motion when used in conjunction with mechanical
measuring standards such as leadscrews, and convert
rotary motion (incremental or absolute) into electrical
signals
They are both effective and low cost feedback devices.

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 Incremental Encoders

It is based on the photoelectric

principle
It consists of a disk with two
traces where transparent and
opaque zones are alternated
The presence of two traces allows
to identify the rotation direction
N: number of steps (number of Notch to define an absolute
light/dark zones per turn) mechanical zero

Since the two signals are ¼ step

shifted, resolution is 360°/4N

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 Absolute Encoders

It is a disk with transparent and opaque areas,

placed on concentric rings
For an N-bit word there are N rings
Resolution: 360°/2N
To avoid reading ambiguities binary codes with
single variations (Gray code) are used
In robotic applications at least 12
rings are used (360°/4096)

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 What is perceived?

Sensor may be classified according to what they

measure
– distance
– proximity
– contact
– force and torque
– vision
– position

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 Distance Perception

Measure the distance between a reference point and

object placed in front of the sensor
Human beings use stereo-vision, while other animals
(like bats, dolphin, and whales) use echolocation
Knowing the distance of the surrounding objects is
useful for obstacle avoidance and for more complex
planning activity

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 Distance Perception: Reflective Optosensors

An ease way to compute distance is to use

triangulation
Reflective optosensors are active sensors
– emitter: a source of light (LED, light emitting diodes)
– detector: a light detector (photodiode or
phototransistor)
The emitter scans the surface with a beam of light
The detector measure the angle corresponding to the
maximum intensity of light
Calling s the distance between the emitter and the
detector, the distance from the object is computed as

s
d=
tan αi
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 Distance Perception: Kinect

Kinect is a motion sensing input device built by

Microsoft for Xbox 360
A cheap device that provides several sensing
information
Used in many robotic research studies
Provides
– 30Hz 8-bit RGB camera (640x480)
– 3D scanner
● Infrared projector
● Infrared camera (11-bit 640x480)
● Range 1.2 – 3.5 m (up to 0.7-6 m)
● Angular field of view: 57° h, 43° v
– Multi-array microphone

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 Distance Perception: Phase Shift Telemeter

The light emitted is split into two parts

– against the object
– against a mirror placed inside the sensor
The beam follows different optical paths and the two
reflected waves have different phases
The distance of the object must lead to phase
displacement within [0°;360°]
Laser wavelength is around 1e-6m
Acoustic waves are not directional
The solution is to modulate the laser light with a wave
characterized by a long wave length

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 Distance Perception: Time-of-Flight Telemeter

It measures the time between the instant the emitter

produces the signal and the instant the detector
receives its reflection
The distance covered by the signal is 2d
The time is ΔT = 2d/c
The speed of light is too high for robotic applications
Acoustic waves are better (v=340 m/s)
– are characterized by low directionality (20 – 40°)
– the reflection is dumped and the signal is largely
affected by noise
– Polaroid ultrasonic sensors
● range 0.3 – 10m
● accuracy 0.025m
● cone opening 30°
● Frequency 50 KHz 35
 Proximity Perception

Proximity sensors measure the presence of objects

within a specified distance range
They are used to grasp objects and avoid obstacles
Sensors
– ultrasonic (low cost)
– inductive (perceive only ferromagnetic materials under
the distance of 1mm)
– Hall effect (perceive only ferromagnetic materials, may
be small, robust, and cheap)
– Capacitive (perceive any object, binary output, high
accuracy only when calibrated for a particular object)
– Optical (infrared light, binary output)

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 Tactile Sensors

These sensors are used for manipulation purposes

Two main categories
– binary
● are realized by switchers
● typically they are placed on the fingers of a manipulator
● they may be arranged in arrays
● may be placed also on the external side of the hand to
avoid obstacles
– analogical
● soft devices that produce a signal proportional to the
local force
● typically realized with a spring coupled with a shaft
● otherwise soft conductive material that change its
resistance according to its compression
● there are sensors that measure also movements
tangential to the sensor surface 37
 Force and Torque Sensors

Typically these sensors are used at joint level and in

the wrist
For joints driven by DC motors the force is measured
by the current
The measure of the strain is based on elasticity
6 parameters in the Cartesian space
– 3 forces along axes
– 3 torques around axes
Very expensive

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 Position Sensor

The main sensor to determine the absolute position of

a robot is the Global Positioning System (GPS)
– 21 satellites
– it is based on the flying time of a radio signal
– At least 4 sensors must be perceived
– Measuring rate is 2Hz
– Accuracy is about 1.5m
– with DGPS accuracy arrives at about 2cm
Unfortunately GPS sensors may not be used in indoor
environments, underground, underwater, or in urban
situations with skyscrapers

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 Inertial Sensor

Gyroscopes
– Angular velocities
Accelerometers
– Gravitational vector
Magnetometers/compass
– Magnetic field vector

Used in many mobile and console devices

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 Sensor Fusion

A man with one watch knows what time it is

a man with two watches isn't so sure

To have a better representation of the world we need

to combine measurements from multiple sensors that
present also redundancy
Sensor fusion is a complex problem
– different sensor accuracy
– different sensor complexity
– contradictory information
– asynchronous perception
Cleverness is needed to put this information together

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