WELCOME BACK!!!!!

Glad to see you up and about.....

A new Project... HOOT..HOOT!! "A ROBOT ARM"!!!! yahoo....

You got my help....it wont be much but I ll do my best...

For the web cam, with Windows 7, you should be able to just plug it into a USB port and let Windows find the drivers. Then start up EZ-B and you should be able to see the camera in the drop down list.

Alan

Welcome back Lloyd!!!!

Hi DJ. I want to thank you for the very nice thoughts. My main proget now, is making a robotic arm to help me with all my other tasks. I'm looking to my EZ Robot family for help with making an arm. Any help will be greatfully accepted.

Lloyd, did you receive the flowers we sent?

I sure did DJ and I wanna thank everyone. I guess I didn't realize how many folks knew me in the group. It means so much to me, Thanks everyone.

You're a robot rockstar Lloyd We watched your growth. You're an absolute example that we never stop learning. An inspiration to me!

:D

I got my drive motors for Gizmo today with wheels and I have three decks ready to put in. I am waiting on motor controller. The bad part is, I can't remember how to wire it up. I'll put info up her and hope someone can walk me through it. Not being able to recall tghings is sooooooooo frustating!I been down this road before an it was a long one.

Lloyd are you wanting to attatch a arm to a wheelchair? Or your workbench?

what motor controller did you order?

whats you power supply to the motors and EZ-B?

@ GotRobbed: The motor drive is a L298N Dual. I have attached pics and a schematic. I am going to use 2 - 12 v. 9.0 A.H. SLA UB1290 or DJW12 batteries for motor power; and a 7.2V, 3800mAh Ni-MH for the EZ-B. Motor power will go to a terminal strip pwr bus (so I can power other 12V circuits), like lights etc.

@ jstarne1: I would like to mount arm on a portable base ,maybe plywood, so it can be moved an atached to different surfaces with clamps. The wole thing should be light enough for me to pick up with one hand. Thinking wrist joint so hand (gripper) can turn. The arm should be able to pick up hand tools and fine enough to hold solder. base would turn maybe 270 degrees. lift range maybe 0 to 18 inch es.

@ DJ: Which do you think might work better for arm joints.......servos or DC motors ( like pitman) I am thinking lifting power. If DC motors, could EZ B be able to control them? I need some help with which servos to use that arm could lift around a pound????? I have looked at www.servocity for parts. Am I making any sense here?

@ group: I would like any help on ideas.

Thanks Lloyd

@robotz012248 - I have been working on a simple design for one of my bots that may work for you. It is based on one of those toy grippy hands you can get. Using a pittman motor you should be able to easily lift a couple of pounds. You could use one servo for rotation, the pittman motor for lift and another servo for grip. You could also add in one more servo for rotation at the wrist. I think aluminum tubing and spring steel (like in a rake tine) could work for the moving piece through the tubing. Here is a (lousy) drawing of what I was thinking of.

@ bret.tallent: What are you thinking for the arms? What material? The 1st thing that caome to my mind is U channel alumnum. I guess by the drawing you used regular hinges at the joints??? What is the block line running from the motor to the grippper? I was thinking about the pan base from Lynxmotion for the main base. I think they said it could move a load of around 2 pounds. please keep in mind that I will need to use as man y off the shelf items as I can.

@ DJ : Now would be a really good time to work on servo speed if you have the tim e. In the situation for now I would also con sider using a reg R/C radio fo radio I am goingr for servo control. I have a 6 chanel to use for robo jeep, I could use it if I have to. Do you think I could use a movment panel for contoling a dc motor in the arm? Would I have to hook it up to a motor driver? I would think I would.

@Robotz012248 - I am using some 3/4" aluminum tubing and regular hinges for the joints. I was thinking to use some spring steel for the line from the motor to the gripper. But if that is too stiff to make those bends then I would probably do a fine steel line with pulleys and run the line on the inside and the outside to pull the arm closed or pull it open.

Lloyd welcome back. It is good to hear that you are back from hospital and that the healing process is going on. I am absolutely of the opinion that it is a great idea keep on working on the robots. I am planing to build a robot which can grab the post and bring it in the house. Sometimes I receive a lot of letters and parcels and it would be great to have a robot which can pick up the things for example when it is raining outside.