Simulation and Experimental Study of a Lightweight Pick‑and‑Place Robotic Arm Prototype

This paper presents the design, simulation, and experimental validation of a prototype pick‑and‑place robot arm developed for lightweight industrial and laboratory automation tasks. The robot arm is designed to handle objects of 0.2 kg with a cycle time of approximately one minute. The development process began with mechanical modeling and kinematic analysis to determine link dimensions, motor torques, and structural stability. Finite element simulations were conducted to evaluate stress, displacement, strain, and safety factor, ensuring that the arm could operate safely under load. Dynamic simulations were performed to analyze velocity, displacement, and angular momentum profiles for all links. The results revealed that link 3 dominates end‑effector dynamics, while link 2 provides primary horizontal translation. A physical prototype was fabricated, and its motion cycle and object handling performance were experimentally tested. Comparison between simulation and experimental results showed strong agreement, confirming the accuracy of the kinematic and dynamic models. The proposed robot arm demonstrates stable operation, precise object handling, and structural reliability, validating the integration of simulation‑based design and experimental testing. These results support the use of this methodology for developing cost‑effective, small‑scale robotic solutions for industrial automation and educational applications.