The Articulated Robot Controller (ARC) is a software application designed to be a teaching tool for instructors of the Industrial Technology Department at Southeastern Louisiana University. ARC provides control of the Industrial Technology Department’s array of articulated robots.

The project was commissioned by Dr. Mike Asoodeh and originally involved creating a software programming interface for a specific articulated robot: the Saturn 5. The purpose of the project was to replace the manufacturer’s application. Upon inquiry by Dr. Ghassan Alkadi, professor of software engineering, Dr. Asoodeh offered the project in the fall semester of 2004 to Dr. Alkadi’s software engineering students. Four students accepted the project: Phillip Jackson, William Wayne, Jeff Bentivegna and Todd Scheurich. Though Dr. Alkadi prompted the project offering from Dr. Asoodeh, it was also the work of another student, Matthew Magnuson, that helped facilitate the offering. Matthew quickly brought us up to speed on proper operation of the robots and made himself available to us for technical assistance.

Development took place over the course of the semester. It was during design and development that the decision was made to construct the architecture of the application so that it could easily be adapted to control any of the articulated robots in the Industrial Technology Laboratory.

By early December the project reached all of its goals and received a functional version designation of 0.5.411.
Dr. Asoodeh nominated the project for the Preferred Research Option for Intensive Training award in Business and Technology, and deemed the Articulated Robot Controller mature enough to warrant further development.

That was Phase 1, Phase 2 is currently underway. Select a phase below for a detailed review:


  
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September 2004 - December 2004
February 2005 - May 2005
 
 


June 2005 - August 2005