Engineering Projects/Bionic Tripod Manipulator

Idea
The "bionic tripod" manipulator arm was originally developed by FESTO in 2009. This is one of many novel actuator designs originated by FESTO. The bionic tripod is simple enough that a prototype can be constructed by first-year engineering students. The goal of this project is to build a manipulator and learn to control it, such that the arm is capable grasping an object and moving it to a different location.



Documentation of FESTO design iterations are found here:

Bionic Tripod

Bionic Tripod 2.0

Bionic Tripod 3.0

Conceive
Not applicable - Conception has been informally described above. Students start with design or implement.

Design
As of spring 2014, students are actively working on the design phase of this project. Significant progress was made in prior years (see below for old documentation).

Old Documentation
Robot arm