IR controlled robotic arm
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Tucker Wilkes
Feb 10, 2011, 11:49:44 AM2/10/11
to hal makers
Hey everyone!
Well this is my first post! I'm working on a robotic arm built from
raw materials I've found around the house. Me and my friend, Jesse,
hacked an old RC joystick and using I built a circuit that sends 4
different IR codes to the arduino, which interprets them into actions.
Move the joystick up will move the arm up, joystick to the right turns
the arm counter-clockwise and etc. I have that part working and as
soon as I receive a servo I'll build the grabber. My next step is to
finish building the sensor modules so that the robot can run
autonomously if the user so chooses by the press of a button on the
joystick.
Well this is my first post! I'm working on a robotic arm built from
raw materials I've found around the house. Me and my friend, Jesse,
hacked an old RC joystick and using I built a circuit that sends 4
different IR codes to the arduino, which interprets them into actions.
Move the joystick up will move the arm up, joystick to the right turns
the arm counter-clockwise and etc. I have that part working and as
soon as I receive a servo I'll build the grabber. My next step is to
finish building the sensor modules so that the robot can run
autonomously if the user so chooses by the press of a button on the
joystick.
John Harrison
Feb 10, 2011, 11:53:22 AM2/10/11
to hal-m...@googlegroups.com
cool! You got a link to a video? It would be fun to see this. :-)
--
John
http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~harrison/
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Tucker Wilkes
Feb 10, 2011, 12:05:47 PM2/10/11
to hal makers
It has been fun working on this! Here is a video link, I'll make a
better video once I finish the robot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4ACPnUimy0
On Feb 10, 10:53 am, John Harrison <johnharrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
> cool! You got a link to a video? It would be fun to see this. :-)
>
better video once I finish the robot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4ACPnUimy0
On Feb 10, 10:53 am, John Harrison <johnharrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
> cool! You got a link to a video? It would be fun to see this. :-)
>
AfroSamurai
Mar 10, 2011, 9:52:47 PM3/10/11
to hal makers
Just wondering if there has been any more progress on this project. I
have seen a few other projects that are similar in make magazine and
nuts and volts, but nothing quite as cool or local. Of course, there
was the robot hand on that one episode of The Big Bang Theory....
On Feb 10, 11:05 am, Tucker Wilkes <twilkes...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It has been fun working on this! Here is a video link, I'll make a
> better video once I finish the robot.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4ACPnUimy0
have seen a few other projects that are similar in make magazine and
nuts and volts, but nothing quite as cool or local. Of course, there
was the robot hand on that one episode of The Big Bang Theory....
On Feb 10, 11:05 am, Tucker Wilkes <twilkes...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It has been fun working on this! Here is a video link, I'll make a
Tucker Wilkes
Apr 25, 2011, 4:58:51 PM4/25/11
to hal makers
Actually I have made some progress. I finally received the servo I had
ordered, and have since built the claw sub-assembly. The hardware for
the robot is complete unless I find some bugs that need to be worked
out. But anyway I'm having trouble getting the arduino to recognize
the IR commands. Here is just a brief summary of what I'm trying to
do:
I have wired an IR photo transistor to the arduino so that I may
receive IR signals from another circuit I've built. On a separate
bread board I've attached a pc joystick to a 399 comparator so that
when it is moved to any of the extremes the respective output pin on
the 399 chip will go from LOW to HIGH. The output pins in turn are
wired to separate 555 timers so that when one pin goes HIGH the 555
will pulse at a set frequency. The output of the 555s are all attached
to an IR emitting LED, which in turn is pointing towards the arduino
IR photo transistor. On the software side of the setup: The arduino
measures the microseconds that the IR photo transistor is HIGH and
then divides that value by 100. This value then goes into an array and
it does this process over until it gets 100 values for each extreme of
the joystick (left, right, up, down). After getting the 100 values the
program continues on to find the mode of each of the extremes. It
saves each of the 4 values into a separate array, I'll call these
values the reference pulses. Then we get into the main part of the
program. The arduino does nothing until the IR photo transistor goes
HIGH, it then measures the microseconds divided by 100 that the
transistor is HIGH. Then it compares that value to the 4 values in the
array (reference pulses), using this (in theory) the arduino should be
able to tell each pules time from another and thus be able to move
separate motors respective to the pulse value it received.
The calibration process works great. When I go into the main part of
the program is where I'm having the problem. This is best explained in
an example: I run through the calibration process moving the joystick
up, left, down, and the right when the arduino tells me to (via LCD
screen). But when the program enters the main loop and when I move
the joystick up (or any other direction) the program doesn't do
anything. It is supposed to move the arm up if the value is within
plus or minus 10 of the reference pulse. I'm not sure if I have
explained this well. But any suggestions to get this working would be
appreciated. If you have questions I can try to explain it better.
ordered, and have since built the claw sub-assembly. The hardware for
the robot is complete unless I find some bugs that need to be worked
out. But anyway I'm having trouble getting the arduino to recognize
the IR commands. Here is just a brief summary of what I'm trying to
do:
I have wired an IR photo transistor to the arduino so that I may
receive IR signals from another circuit I've built. On a separate
bread board I've attached a pc joystick to a 399 comparator so that
when it is moved to any of the extremes the respective output pin on
the 399 chip will go from LOW to HIGH. The output pins in turn are
wired to separate 555 timers so that when one pin goes HIGH the 555
will pulse at a set frequency. The output of the 555s are all attached
to an IR emitting LED, which in turn is pointing towards the arduino
IR photo transistor. On the software side of the setup: The arduino
measures the microseconds that the IR photo transistor is HIGH and
then divides that value by 100. This value then goes into an array and
it does this process over until it gets 100 values for each extreme of
the joystick (left, right, up, down). After getting the 100 values the
program continues on to find the mode of each of the extremes. It
saves each of the 4 values into a separate array, I'll call these
values the reference pulses. Then we get into the main part of the
program. The arduino does nothing until the IR photo transistor goes
HIGH, it then measures the microseconds divided by 100 that the
transistor is HIGH. Then it compares that value to the 4 values in the
array (reference pulses), using this (in theory) the arduino should be
able to tell each pules time from another and thus be able to move
separate motors respective to the pulse value it received.
The calibration process works great. When I go into the main part of
the program is where I'm having the problem. This is best explained in
an example: I run through the calibration process moving the joystick
up, left, down, and the right when the arduino tells me to (via LCD
screen). But when the program enters the main loop and when I move
the joystick up (or any other direction) the program doesn't do
anything. It is supposed to move the arm up if the value is within
plus or minus 10 of the reference pulse. I'm not sure if I have
explained this well. But any suggestions to get this working would be
appreciated. If you have questions I can try to explain it better.
John Harrison
Apr 26, 2011, 12:00:19 AM4/26/11
to hal-m...@googlegroups.com
Sounds very cool. Can't wait to see it! Best shot if you want help from
this list is to email in your code.
this list is to email in your code.
--
John Harrison http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~harrison
Tucker Wilkes
May 19, 2011, 4:13:10 PM5/19/11
to hal makers
I experimented with the IR a bit and it wasn't being very consistent ,
I don't think it was the software probably more of the hardware. I
bought a small RC car and took out the receiver and installed it in
place of the IR transistor. The arm works great now! I'll post a video
link soon!
I don't think it was the software probably more of the hardware. I
bought a small RC car and took out the receiver and installed it in
place of the IR transistor. The arm works great now! I'll post a video
link soon!
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