Development of a Voice Controlled Robotic Arm

This paper describes a robotic arm with 5 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) which is controlled by human voice and has been developed in the Mechatronics Laboratory, CUET. This robotic arm is interfaced with a PC by serial communication (RS-232). Users' voice command is captured by a microphone, and this voice is processed by software which is made by Microsoft visual studio. Then the specific signal (obtained by signal processing) is sent to control unit. The main control unit that is used in the robotic arm is a microcontroller whose model no. is PIC18f452. Then Control unit drives the actuators, (Hitec HS-422, HS-81) according to the signal or signals to give required motion of the robotic arm. At present the robotic arm can perform a set action like pick & pull, gripping, holding & releasing, and some other extra function like dance-like movement, and can turn according to the voice commands.