Faculty of the Graduate School Angeles University Foundation

ANGELES UNIVERSITY GRADUATE

SCHOOL

^PAGE

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT _{OF AN}

INTERACTIVE 3D ROBOTIG ARM SIMULATOR WITH PARALLEL PORT INPUT SUPPORT

A Thesis Presented to the

Faculty of the Graduate School Angeles University Foundation

ln Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ENGINEERING

maior in GOMPUTER ENGINEERING

By:

Engr. EDGAR

S.

##6ASAQUIT

January 2009

ilOLY ANCEL UI{JVERSIT)/ LIBRAFV

ANGELES UNIVERSITY GRADUATE

SCHOOL

^PAGE

THESIS ABSTRACT

Simulation software'varies any,vhere from a simple computational tool to something that is capable of offering animation features, and interactivity ftom

the

^physical world through hardware interfaces. Examples

of the

latter are emerging virtual reality (VR) tools, 3Dgames involving physical simulations or physics; flight simulators, and driving simulators which have hardware sections interfaced with

the

software (e.9.

a

real

drive/s

seat, together with steering wheel and pedals). The research study aimed to design and develop software capable

of

showing

the

aesthetic aspect

of a

robotic plan,

with

interactive movements via the keyboard and mouse or through an interface through the parallel port.

To

reduce the cost

of

the research study, entirely open-source softrrares are used. Majority of the project's sections will make use

of

BlenCer,

an

open-source, free,

3D

modeling, rendering, animation and game creation suite. The researcfr study also developed a workflow that will allow engineering designers in robotics to create a 3D model of his design either from scratch or from a ^given blue print, and enable interaction with it in Blendels ^game engine.

Movements were contrdled by

the

keyboard, mouse and inputs through the parallet port. To assist further, a manual on the usage of Btender for interactive robotic.arm simulator was written. The manual includes: Blender installation, Blender's

user

interfa@, creating

and

editing obiects

in

Blender,

and

an introduction to

tfe

Blender video tutorials.