 |
Overview
This is a simple 4/5 servo robot arm. It is controlled by a vb.net app which sends out data over rs232 to a PIC.
This PIC then positions the servo to a position between 0 and 255. There are no gradual movements when the servo is positioning, it is a straight "goto X pos".
Simple Servo Bot 2 does feature gradual movement, so check that out. |
Software
VB.net 2008 application. This sends out servo data position depending on the position of the trackbar slider. To move the servo controlling the main up/down shoulder, slide the trackbar to a position and click the "Move" button. This sends out ASCII byte 1 and X (the trackbar position) over rs232 to the PIC.
I add a feature where you can add these movements to an action script. When you play the script it simply loops through each entry and sends those values to the PIC. Action scripts can be saved and loaded.
Center buttons position each servo to it's center position 127. Reset robot centers each one in sucsession and clears the action script.
|
Construction
This arm uses a total of 4 or 5 servos:
- 1 large (Futaba S3003): Main rotation
- 1 large (Futaba S3003): Main sholder Up/Down
- 1 mini (eSky): Elbow
- 1 mini (eSky): Wrist Up/Down (can be omitted, thus making 5 servos)
- 1 mini (eSky): Wrist Rotation
- 1 mini (eSky): Grabber
The base is a simple project box, and the arms are cut from L shaped alloy (the kind of stuff used to protect door corners etc). I chose the alloy because it is light, and gives a good mounting surface for the mini servos.
The servos are held in place using double-sided tape and further secured with tie-wraps.
All servo horns are fixed using 90 second epoxy.
The grabber is a simple design, made from 3mm plasticard. It uses a bit of heat shrink tubing on the ends for "grabability"
See the photos for more details.
|
Images
Here are the images relating to the project.
|
|
|
