Programmable Robotic Arm

Programmable Robotic Arm

Programmable Robotic Arm

This Programmable Robotic Arm post is a sub-topic of Robotic Arm Project.Robotic Arm Project Assembled

It seems logical to communicate about one of the major functions of the Robotic Arm Project, programming the arms basic movements. The programming of this project will utilize a Arduino microcontroller. Not sure how many microcontrollers will be required but the cost of the Arduino’s is relatively small.

  • There are 6 servos on this robotic arm. Labeling some of the movements has been perplexing.
  • There are 3 reach/extend servos so in/out is not enough to distinguish each of the 3.
  • My 1st labeling of the 6 servos is: lr (left/right), ud (up/down), io (in/out), jud (jaw up/down, jlr (jaw left/right), and joc (jaw open/close). Therefore I have servolr, servoud, etc..

Microcontroller programming

There are numerous programming languages and it seems the most common is C+. I am no expert, but C+ appears to be the easiest to understand and can be translated to other languages, which is why I picked Arduino microcontrollers.

  • The programming itself requires a lot of attention to unique terms and placement of various brackets, semicolons, and periods. Here is sample of the programming so far.
int receiver = 12;

int poslr = 0;

int lr = 0;

int ud = 0;

int io = 0;

int jud = 0;

int jlr = 0;

int joc = 0;

 

Servo servolr;

Servo servoud;

Servo servoio;

Servo servojud;

Servo servojlr;

Servo servojoc;

There are many highly qualified programmers out there but I prefer to be self taught.

  • Actually the 2 support forums I queried were difficult to navigate and their responses were slow, since I was needing help as I was working on the project, I had very little patience. No complaint or bad mouthing the people that are trying to help, I just ran out of time and apparently didn’t form my questions correctly. As I have stated previously I enjoy a technical challenge, but not social ones. Enough said about help systems.

Training, who needs training….

There are plenty of C+ training manuals out there, Arduino has a lot of support on the web also. I am not trying to set any speed records and I enjoy figuring these type of things out.

  • If you want to bypass any heavy programming training, the OWI Robotic Arm Edge system looks to be a winner. I can’t recommend any training since I haven’t used any.

Future functions….

Being as the scope of the Robotic Arm Project involves sensing where the arm is, how fast, and when to start the next step I expect to be learning a lot of programming.

Please check back often….more to come…