Mechanical design and motion analysis of a pick-and-place mechanism

The purpose of this research is to propose a mechanical design and kinematic analysis for a pick-and-place mechanism (PPM), which is applied to automation equipments and press fabrication industries. To obtain all the possible dimensions of gear pairs, a programming software is developed by using Visual Basic (VB) language. From the path of motion, the geometric relationship between the planetary gear and internal gear will generate an approximate square path (ASP). By intercepting some portion of this ASP and utilizing one servomotor to drive the arm of the planetary gear, a new type of PPM is designed. To verify its performance, experiments and numerical simulations of motion analyses are performed and compared. The PPM could also be combined with other mechanisms to construct new systems with one input servomotor and multiple output manipulators.