Experimental study on the visual servoing of a 4-DOF parallel robot for pick-and-place purpose

This article investigates the control and vision of a 4-DOF parallel manipulator known as Quattro. An experimental sample of this manipulator has been built and a vision system was installed on it for adding some features to this manipulator. OpenCV library has been used for detecting the objects on a conveyor which has been provided in order to transfer objects under the arms of manipulator. A graphical user interface is developed for this manipulator which is designed in C language with Qt platform to the end of improving interaction with operator. A suction has been attached to the end-effector in order to pick-and-palce objects from one position to another when placed under the manipulator. By connecting the Arduino Board with the manipulators graphical user interface, the speed of the conveyor and the suction can be controlled. In order to control the arms of manipulator, a simple PID controller has been designed.