Robotic Arm Help

[Sammy]

Okay so me and my friend Decided, since I'm Very good with electronics, and hes very smart (Hes got like an A+ in every single class, this kids a genious) We decided we are going to team up and build some kind of robotic arm (yes i realize this is going to take quiet alot of time and money! im prepared!), But I'm like a super noob when it comes to this kind of stuff, and programming and all that, so I've got a few questions,

1. If i make my own little PIC programmer, Would i use like a  PIC to program like Movements in to this? Like i press a button, it turns and squeeses it clamp or whatever, would that be right for this kinda thing? (Remember im a total noob so dont make fun of me ifim way off please!)

2. Would it be possible to make some kind of command promt thing for it? like i plug in a keyboard, and type a command like grab, it would grab?

3. Do you guys know any sites that would have som kind of kit to make this? i was going to just find some scrap metal and like make some joints for somthin lol.

Thanks, Any help is Appreciated!!

[Hazer]

There are a couple of ways to answer this:

A good way to start is using hobby servo motors. You can find alot of good beginners info here:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_tutorial.shtml

This will give you not only starter info, but what it eventually leads to for advanced design.

1. If i make my own little PIC programmer, Would i use like a  PIC to program like Movements in to this? Like i press a button, it turns and squeeses it clamp or whatever, would that be right for this kinda thing? (Remember im a total noob so dont make fun of me ifim way off please!)

Those hobby servo motors (they are cheap, like $5-$10 each) are easily controlled by one output pin of a PIC. There is probably already a ton of free code for exactly this application already out there.

2. Would it be possible to make some kind of command promt thing for it? like i plug in a keyboard, and type a command like grab, it would grab?

Now your getting into a PC interface (or the PIC could read the keyboard directly, but now you need an LCD also to see what you are typing). I highly suggest not to go this route. Type commands suck. What would be much better is to use a USB PIC, and create a simple GUI so you control everything with point-and-click interface. Also, if your good at PC programming, you can have the PC do inverse kinematic equations and move the servos by giving cartesian coordinates (way cool).

3. Do you guys know any sites that would have som kind of kit to make this? i was going to just find some scrap metal and like make some joints for somthin lol.

Not entirely on the subject, but a much simpler version of a robotic arm (its not servo controlled, its just dummy motors) is this kit from OWI:
http://www.amazon.com/OWI-OWI-535-Robotic-Arm-Edge/dp/B0017OFRCY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327380933&sr=8-1

For the money, its a really cool kit and a great way to learn how to gear motors for torque over speed (you get to put the gears together). Also, you can replace the simple remote control with a microcontroller interface and do more fun things with it. You can also google this robot with instructables and see how one guy added encoders to each axis and made it into a true robotic arm.

Hope this helps. Oh, BTW, real industrial robotic arms use absolute-encoder servo motors and usually come with a controller that is really a PC in a box that performs all the kinematics and safety controls directly. And they cost the same as a Mercedes for 6 DOF. If you really get into this hobby, the fun thing to do is make one at home for next to nothing.

[Sammy]

Thanks ALOT man, This is a ton of info that will help me alot!, Also i was kinda thinking of trying to use a ps2 cotroller as the remote, Could i do that? Thanks!

[zbblanton]

Instead of trying to build some crazy mini computer for keyboard input and command-prompt style stuff I would recommend using some kind of android phone or tablet. I have a Dell Latitude XT2 and just bought a $1.99 Bluetooth adapter. Then went and made a small program that would control the robotic arm. 

I've built (well still building) a robotic and it was probably the most challenging and fun project I've worked on.

Here is my thread with a few early pictures of the arm, a lot has changed on it since then though:
https://www.acidmods.com/forum/index.php/topic,39352.0.html


oh yea on the Bluetooth adapter. I also used an arduino mega and a small Bluetooth receiver that you can buy on eBay for like $12.