Graham and Sam worked together to create a robotic gripper controlled with a glove and strong enough to hold household items.
The post Our Journey in Building a Glove-Controlled Robotic Gripper appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.
AR-Duo is a steampunk telepresence robot that shows off the skills and ingenuity of a school's metal shop.
The post This Telepresence Robot from the 1800s Helps Promote Metal Shop appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.
Sam Baumgarten and his friend have developed a pretty rad robotic gripper with the help of Arduino and 3D printing. The gripper itself consists of three large hobby servos joined to the fingers with a linkage. The underactuated fingers have a force sensor under each contact point, while the control glove is equipped with tiny vibrating motors at the fingertips. This, of course, provides haptic feedback to ensure that the user doesn’t crush anything–the greater the pressure, the stronger the motors vibrate.
The gripper is mounted to a handle with abrasive tape–the same kind found on staircases and skateboards. The tape is also used on each finger for optimal gripping. A box at the base of the pole houses all of the electronics, which include an Arduino Pro Mini for controlling the addressable LEDs on top, another Arduino for handling the communication and fingers, and a battery for power.
Aside from the vibration motors, the glove features flexible resistors on the back of the fingers, an LED strip for visualization, a breakout board for measuring the resistance from the flex sensors, a battery, an Arduino Uno for processing, and an XBee module for transmitting the signals to the Arduino in the gripper.
If you think this sounds awesome, wait until you see it in action. Baumgartnen has shared a demo of the project, along with a detailed breakdown of his build. Kudos to Hackaday for finding this incredible piece of work!
The Da Vinci system is one of the most popular surgical robots around, which allows surgeons to perform operations through only a few small incisions. The device works by translating a doctor’s hand movements into smaller, precise movements of tiny instruments inside the patient’s body. As ubiquitous as they may be in hospitals, chances are it’s never been operated quite like this before.
That’s because Julien Schuermans has managed to connect the robotic surgical tool’s hardware up to a LeapMotion controller, making its small forceps gesture-controlled. You can see how it all works in the video below.
As The Verge explains, four Arduino Uno-controlled servos are fitted to the pulleys and cables that handle the rotation, angle and gripping mechanism. Gesture input is captured by the Leap Motion’s infrared cameras, which is then converted into instructions for these servos, enabling the user to command the endoscopic device with just a wave of the hand.
A team from ETH Zurich has created an incredible submersible robot called Scubo as a way to scan entire coral reefs. Equipped with six onboard webcams, the omnidirectional device is capable of exploring the deep sea from every angle. What’s more, users can take a virtual dive by throwing on a pair of VR glasses to make it feel as if they’re swimming with marine life.
Scubo consists of an Arduino Due for hard real-time tasks, an Intel NUC for high-performance calculation, an IMU, and a pressure sensor — all housed inside a carbon cuboid. Eight thrusters are symmetrically mounted to the outside, one at each corner, while a tube goes through the box to ensure proper water flow and to keep the electronics cool. The system is neutrally buoyed and weight in the form of screws can be added to the thruster arms to adjust buoyancy and the center of gravity.
One of its creators Johann Diep tell us, “We chose to work with Arduino because it offers the required interface (I2C, SPI, etc.), it is easy to program (none of us ever worked with Arduino at the beginning), and there is a large community on the web that is very supportive with our questions.”
A tether connects Scubo to a computer outside the water and the power source, which allows the camera pictures to be viewed live and the batteries to be recharged with a steady current. According to the team, this highly extends the operation time, though the batteries would last approximately 120 minutes under standard conditions without recharging.
Scubo is based on ROS, and with the rosserial_arduino package, they are able to send or receive commands on a laptop from the Arduino. This enables them to steer the bot with a SpaceMouse joystick while monitoring all the sensor messages (pressure, leakage, temperature, voltage, etc.) at the same time.
It should be noted that Scubo isn’t only restricted to coral research either. In fact, the underwater machine was built with modularity and entertainment in mind as well. Users can easily attach their own sensors, lights and HD cameras via one of five universal ports.
We are confident that Scubo has great potential for the future. Since every necessary sensor is already implemented, Scubo can be programmed to scan a coral reef or any other place fully autonomous. Telepresence could be used in many aquariums or in the sea for entertainment. Because of the module ports different kinds of sensors and devices can be connected and used, for example to generate a geographical map of the sea floor or to inspect boats.
Whether corals in the Caribbean, the shore of Lake Zurich or even a virtual dive in an aquarium — Scubo not only convinces with its captivating technology but also with its modern design. Innovation starts when science meets entertainment.
Intrigued? You can read more about the project on its website, and check out its trailer video below.
An entry in this year’s Hackaday Prize, Dtto is a snake-like robot designed to be modular and self-reconfigurable.
Inspired by Bruce Lee’s famous water quote, Dtto can transform into various shapes by changing the position and connection of its 3D-printed modules. As Hackaday points out, each section of Dtto is a double-hinged joint. When two come together, magnets help them align. A servo-controlled latch solidly docks the sections, which then work in unison. Impressively, it can connect and separate segments autonomously – without any human intervention. Creator Alberto believes the versatility of the bot will enable it to perform rescue missions, explore unknown environments, and operate in space.
The open-source robot consists of an Arduino Nano, a Bluetooth HC-06 module, an NRF2401+ radio transceiver, two SG92R Tower Pro servos for main movement, three Tower Pro SG90 micro servos for coupling, and a WS2812 RGB LED. For its latest iteration, the Maker has made a few design improvements to allot for 25% more internal space, a data bus connecting the two blocks and Tower Pro MG92B motors. Future modules will even include a built-in camera, an ultrasonic sensor, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer, to name just a few. Until then, you can follow along on its project page and check out a few of its videos below.
If you’ve always wanted a bot for a friend, personal assistant or butler, you’re in luck. John Choi, a Carnegie Mellon University computer science and arts student, has managed to build his own life-size robotics platform for about $2,000. Sure, a price tag like that may not seem “cheap” but in comparison to other research-grade platforms out there, it’s a bargain.
Ideal for Makers, students, educators, artists and researchers alike, the Multipurpose Mobile Manipulator Mk 1 is capable of playing the piano, drawing pictures, preparing meals, watering plants, and engaging in toy sword duels, among many other things.
The Multipurpose Mobile Manipulator is divided into three major parts: the base, the arms, and the chest. The base contains motors for mobility and batteries to power the robot, enabling it to navigate around. The arms contain adaptable grippers, shoulder and elbow joints, and an extensible limb for grabbing and moving things with its environment. Meanwhile, the chest connects all of these together with control electronics and serves as a platform for an intelligent laptop-for-a-face. An Arduino Mega at its heart makes interfacing with sensors and actuators super easy, while the robot’s functionality can also be expanded by simply attaching new electronics and sensors to its mounting areas.
The open-source platform is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux, and supports Python 2.7 and Arduino libraries. According to Choi, libraries for Unity, Processing, ROS, MATLAB, C++, and Scratch are also in the works.
Those interested in building their own should check out Choi’s incredibly-detailed 80-step tutorial, and watch the robot take on some tasks below. Prepare to be amazed!
As fun as petting your dog can be, sometimes you’re just too busy to give it the attention it deserves — especially if he or she is needy. Luckily, there is now an automated mechanism that’ll give Fido a nice pat and reward him with a treat at the press of an arcade button. But that’s not all. Engineer James Cochrane’s “IOT Robot People/Pet Affectionator” allows your pup to reciprocate their appreciation, too.
The robot itself consists of an Arduino Nano, two H-Bridge motor drivers, two geared Pittman motors, and two geared hobby motors. The Kibbles ‘n Bits are delivered using a wooden spoon, while a button on the pup’s side enables them give their owner a nice rub of the head and a snack with a fork as well.
For his end of the year project at the University of Valencia, Maker Jorge Crespo built an Internet-connected, GPS-enabled rover using an Arduino Mega, an Adafruit FONA 808 module, and a PIC18F45K20 microcontroller.
Other hardware includes IR sensors for obstacle avoidance, a dual H-bridge motor controller, an LCD screen, DC/DC converters, and an 11.1V, 5Ah LiPo battery. The bot is managed through a web-based interface, allowing its user to select between auto or manual commands, as well as track its location on a map.
From getting out of bed to applying lipstick to eating breakfast, Simone Giertz has seemingly found every possible way to automate her morning routine. Next on that list? A hair-washing robot made up of a rubber hand, a bottle of shampoo and some basic electronics that allows her to lather, rinse and repeat, while leaving her hands free for other tasks like brushing her teeth.
Giertz’s latest project features a pair of Hitec servo motors, Actobotics from Servocity, an Arduino Uno and a 6V battery pack. Although you’d probably never use this thing in an actual real shower, a shampoo robot is still pretty darn hilarious. See it in action below!
I built a hair washing robot. pic.twitter.com/TSEAugnlfJ
— Simone Giertz (@SimoneGiertz) May 6, 2016