Quanser QArm Pick and Place using MathWorks Toolboxes

Quanser QArm pick and place controller using the Robotic Systems Toolbox and Stateflow. Simulate control using Simscape or QLabs.

Leveraging MATLAB®/Simulink® Toolboxes to Rapidly Deploy a Pick and Place Application

The Quanser QArm, shown below, is a 4 DOF robotic manipulator with a two-finger gripper and RGBD camera. The position of the base, shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints and the gripper fingers can all be controlled individually.

Pick and place is one of the most common and important applications of robot manipulators. Here we show how to use the MathWorks® Robotics System Toolbox™ and Stateflow® to implement a pick and place control. This blog shows how leveraging these toolboxes allows you to rapidly design and deploy the pick and place control application. It also highlights how the Simscape™ Multibody model of the system was developed.

The resulting control can be simulated using a QArm Simscape model, the QLabs QArm Virtual experiment, or the QArm hardware.

Before You Run this Example

The following toolboxes and additional software are required depending on the configuration you want to use to validate pick and place control:

1. MathWorks Robotic Systems Toolbox.
2. MathWorks Stateflow.
3. MathWorks Simscape is required to run the PickAndPlace_Simulation_Simscape Simulink model. This simulates the control with the Simscape model of QArm.
4. [optional] Quanser QLabs Virtual QArm experiment is required to run the PickAndPlace_Simulation_QLabs Simulink model on the QArm Virtual Twin. If you don't have QLabs, you can sign up for a free trial here .
5. [optional] Quanser QUARC Real-Time Control Software is required to run the controllers on the actual QArm hardware. If you don’t have the QUARC software, you can sign up for free trial here .

How Does it Work?

The details of the pick and place application are described in this Quanser blog. The Inverse Kinematics block from the Robotics Systems Toolbox is used to convert the Cartesian task position commands for the end-effector into the joint angles. The Get Transform block is used to compute the forward kinematics, i.e., the end-effector position from the robot joint angles.

The pick and place application tasks – whether to pick, place, or move - is designed as a finite state machine in Stateflow, as shown below.

How to Run the Examples

Simulate using Simscape

1. Open the PickAndPlace_Simulation_Simscape Simulink model.
2. Click on the Run button in the Simulation tab.

Simulate on the QLabs Virtual QArm

1. Run the Quanser Interactive Labs (QLabs) software and log in using your account.
2. From the product list select QArm, then select QArm Pick and Place. The QARM PICK AND PLACE view in QLabs is shown below.
3. Open the PickAndPlace_Simulation_QLabs Simulink model.
4. Click on the Run button in the Simulation tab.

If you have any issues running the software, please go to the QLabs support page.

Implement with QUARC on the QArm Hardware

1. If you have the QArm hardware, first make sure you can run the system using the Quick Start control.
2. Open the PickAndPlace_Hardware Simulink model.
3. Click on the Monitor & Tune button in the Simulink Hardware or the QUARC tab (depending on the version of Simulink).