Design and Development of a Carpal Wrist Robotic Manipulator

The purpose of this study is to develop a viable Carpal Wrist actuator that meets the demands of applications that require spherical pointing capabilities such as space applications (thrusters, thruster vectoring, solar panel orientation control, etc.) This study involves creating a robotic manipulator that has high torque and steady displacement by integrating geared stepper motors, and by utilizing MATLAB for verification of end effector orientation. The design of the Carpal Wrist actuator involves understanding its kinematics based on Dr. Anthony Ganino's master's thesis [2]. The fabrication of the design involves 3D printing the Carpal Wrist and the gearbox, which are then assembled and tested. Variable loading was applied on the end effector to determine the rated torque of the actuator. The end effector orientation was verified by comparing the simulation with the rotary sensor data.