Robot Arm

This project was an attempt at creating a 5-DOF (Degree-Of-Freedom) robot arm using standard size servo motors. The controller is an OOPic microcontroller, which is all I had at the time. Most arm components were cut out of 1.6mm aluminium sheets.

Results

• The OOPic controller at present cannot control the speed of the servos, so the arm could benefit from a dedicated servo controller, such as one of these.

• The servos used (can't remember type, got them off e-Bay) don't seem strong enough to produce the required torque needed to lift some of the heavier arm parts such as shoulder and elbow. Additionally, the aluminium sheets may have been too thick for the required task. An arbitrary guess would be that the servos only produce a torque <5kg/cm, so the whole design would benefit greatly from more powerful motors.

• Overall this first attempt at creating a robot arm has revealed a lot of information and knowledge on design requirements, so if I get round to building a 'Robot Arm mk II' of even a totally new arm, the learnt knowledge will be especially useful and hopefully I will avoid doing the same mistakes again.

Inspiration: http://www.lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=2