Robotic arm brings engineering theory to life

Students now have access to an innovative tool – a 3D printed robotic arm – that’s bringing new meaning to hands-on learning.

Dr. Xueling (Julie) Luo, an Engineering Professor, says the robotic arm will make learning more accessible because it will help bridge the gap between concepts they learn in the classroom and practical applications.

“Linear algebra has been mentioned as one of the harder courses for a lot of students. It’s hard to see the applications,” says Julie. “In my course, I introduced the robotic arm into the class, showing how you use linear algebra in the background to understand how it moves from joint to joint. It becomes something they can visualize easily. Learning this way can help them with future studies.”

The robotic arm was constructed by Julie, Engineering program technician Devin Ayotte and Engineering student Kevin Marshall. It is an open-source design created by BCN3D Technologies.

“There is a lot of potential with this project moving forward to get students to learn about how existing systems in electronics work, and there will be more components for them to play with later on,” says Devin. “This is an incredibly versatile platform for teaching basic concepts in mechatronics, programming different control systems and how to apply them in manufacturing around robotics.”

Julie also plans to use the robotic arm in her Computer Science course, which is an introduction to robotic systems and AI. And the team is looking at integrating a camera system to make the robotic arm more intelligent.

Creating the 3D robotic arm gave Kevin valuable hands-on learning experiences. It took more than 100 hours to complete the 3D print.

“I’ve always been interested in 3D printing and robotics, so learning basic manufacturing methods for putting something together with 3D printing was great,” says Kevin. I have a lot of experience editing computer-aided design (CAD) models. Different challenges came up when I was printing, and Devin and I came up with creative solutions by altering settings. It helped me learn that even if it doesn’t look like there’s an immediate way to fix a problem, if you look at all your options you can figure out something to work with.”

He says it gave him a basic understanding of robotics assembly and helped him in his computer and manufacturing class because he could understand the connections between them better.

“A huge part of the project requires thinking outside the box this helped me get into thinking like an engineer or technologist,” says Kevin. “Getting hands-on work is fantastic. I can look at drawings all day long, but nothing beats getting hands-on experience, understanding 3D printing and CAD and bringing that into class made it a lot easier to learn those concepts and understand how they are applicable in the work environment.”

Devin said many people don’t get a chance to see robots used in industry. Engineering has a partnership with a local fabrication shop and brings their class there to see industrial robots during the semester, but not all students have access to that. He says many students are interested in this technology and having access to the robotic arm is a safer alternative for students and community members to learn these technologies.

Julie received a VIU Research Awards Committee Innovate grant to help construct the robotic arm.