introduction to programming NXT Robots in C with RobotC
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You can visit the official LEGO website at: A quick survey of the robot arm located on the Mindstorms site show that all the models have in common a very important default: They are all heavy and cumbersome. One disadvantage of this is the speed: As a consequence, these robots are slow moving, and prone to breaks. We propose here the lightest robot arm ever made, the simplest too, since it requires only pieces exactly. It is also an arm that has a very wide range, reaching as far as 18 inches 50 cm nxt robot arm tutorial also good for close range since it can touch its base.
It can also turn more than degree, but at some point, the hoses and wires inside nxt robot arm tutorial base will get too stuck Finally, speed is high, going from fully retracted to fully extended in less than 3 seconds.
This arm necessitates 4 controls 1 for rotating the base, 2 for the arm and forearm, and one pneumatic for the hand - not visible in the picture. It can be troublesome for the RCX, but using multiplexors either electronic, see TFM pages, or mechanical - see my pages belowthe RCX has the ability to control this arm. I give below some snapshots to help you build this arm. If you appreciate the design, please let me know. If you have improvement to make it lighter, faster, or whateverlet me know too.
That way, you can peruse in more details the assembly. The base simply hold the turntable. It has to be rigid, and somehow heavy is a good idea. On the back, there's an axle connected to an endless worm gear. Connect this axle to the motor of nxt robot arm tutorial choice.
Two motors are embedded in this part, that will be responsible for the movement of the arm and the forearm. You will need to connect the wires and pass them through the base. If you need more space, the last axle on top of the turntable can be removed easily, and the blue beams can be lifted forward.
The sliders are simply a slippery place where the levers can move freely without friction, and who can change their orientation as the arm extend or contract. The levers, when contracting, acts like muscles, they simply for the arm to get closer to the other section, bending it along the nxt robot arm tutorial. The only part missing from the hand is a large piston connecting from the top axles to the connectors inside the two triangular parts. Instead of these triangles, you may use right-angle pieces, nxt robot arm tutorial I had no more The tires are meant for a better grip, and to compensate the weight of the piston, so that the hand is always correctly oriented toward the floor.
Controlling pneumatics In order to control pneumatics, we need to be able to turn on or off a Lego switch, and we also need to supply pressure into the hoses. To accomplish all this, I build a control center, as see below. The other extremity of the pressure switch is connected to nxt robot arm tutorial pump. The Lego switch can be connected to the RCX. However, because the nxt robot arm tutorial motors on the arm and the pressure switch totalized 4 outputs only three are available on the RCX, I used a serial multiplexor of my invention described below to control either the base or the hand with one output.
Survey of RCX programming. The ultimate Lego robot arm! Also, this arm requires a pump and some pneumatic controls that I briefly overview below.
Nxt robot arm tutorial this Robot Arm. A Lego switch controller, taken directly from Soh's pages see link on my home pageexcept that I placed it vertically for reasons of space. I used the exact same design as for the Lego switch above, that is, the same motor and gear reduction, but instead of being connected to a switch with a lever, it is nxt robot arm tutorial to a pump.
There is space for a second pump if I had a second pump on the other side so that they could work together, degree apart. Since I didn't want the pump to function all the time, I install a pressure tank see my own pages on that topic in Nxt robot arm tutorial of Lego.
However, I needed a pressure detector that will start or stop the pump when pressure is too low or too high. I borrowed the following pressure switch from the Hempel design pages.