First Real Look At My Ez-b Controlled Full Size Lis B9 Robot

@McsDaver, That's an interesting concept. Thanks for the input and suggestion. I'm going to have to think it through but I don't think I can adapt it to my current motor and the joint I'm trying to flex. If I'm following you I think this method calls for an all "inline" drivetrain? Also I'd have to come up with a method to pull and push the arm joint up and down with about 90 degree freedom of movement. I guess this could be accomplished with setting the motor back away from the joint with the threaded rod extending to the joint. Then the nut could attach to a 90 angle iron attached to a hinge at the joint. This would allow the motor to pull and push the angle iron on the hinge and flex the joint up and down. Could work but my preferred method would be to have the motor at the joint.

@Don, I haven't gotten to designing how to extend and retract the arm in and out of the torso yet. However I have given it a lot of thought though because it's part of the overall design for how large the mounts and motors can be and where to position them. As I'm sure you know there is very little room to work with here. I'm planning on having two joints in my arm; an "Elbow" and a Wrist". I guess the Elbow joint could also be considered a shoulder joint on a regular robot. Very rough measurements that I'm pulling out of my head right now are:

Distance inside of torso (Front to back) for length of motor and linear movement: 15" Distance from arm hole to where the arm's elbow will be a full extension: 9" Distance from arm hole to rear edge of claw wrist ring at full extension: 21" Distance from elbow to rear edge of claw's wrist ring: 11" Distance from rear edge of claws wrist ring to wrist joint: 5" Distance from side to side inside rubber arm to fit all this into and pass in and out through: 5"

As you can see it's all very tight but doable if everything is sized just right. As far s the mechanism to move the arm in and out I had considered a pulley system but am leaning to a Gear Rack of some type:

Then for the slides to save room I'm considdering consealed undermount deawer slides. They would allow me to remove the arm like a kitchen drawer and are rated at 75 lbs: Concealed Drawer Slides

Do yo have any pictures or video of what you've built yet? I'd love to hear and see more! What are you using for motors and feedback?

Here's my 1st attempt at a elbow joint that failed. As I said in an earlier post the motor, controller and power supply are to weak. I'm upgrading now and am very hopeful:

It's been many months sense I've up dated my project here on the forum However I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. The past 6 or 7 months have been spent in designing and building prototypes for my B9's arm. I've actually spent a year researching the best way to move this massive 7 lb arm around and make it look like it moved in the 60's TV series by the actor inside.

I had to build three different prototypes with three different motor types before I settled on a final design. If you page back you can see the first two. Neither were strong or stable enough.

In a few days I'll post a list of the DC motor, feedback, motor controllers and servos I finally ended up using. However until then I will say I used a different, stronger version of the AME 226 motor shown above, with the Softpot also shown for feedback for the elbow joint. The Softpot is feeding info to a Kangaroo X2/ Sabertooth 32X2 motor controller. Two mini servos for the claw and wrist release. One standard servo for the wrist horizontal and a servo in a servo City 7:1 ratio gearbox moving the wrist up and down joint. I'll do another video in a few days with the skin off showing in more detail everything that powers and moves this 7 pound monster. Until then here's a peek at this EZB controlled B9 arm. Enjoy..............

Fantastic Dave! Well done! Very exciting.

Thanks Will! Your silicon rubber skin looks fantastic moving around like this. No way I could have made it look this nice with your talents.

They sure do! Are you planning a extension/retraction for them?

Ah ha! That's the big question. Yes, that's my next feat of magic. I need to find a way to move them in and out of the torso. They fit nicely fully retracted with a few inches in the rear to spare and when in the full extension position the elbow motor will be almost fully out of the body. I need some sort of low profile rail and platform it can roll out on. Your suggestion of a pivot arm to push it in and out is a real option to power it right now. However I'm looking at all options and acts of God or the devil at this time. I'm completely open to suggestions.

I'm still sold on linear rail. It's extremely smooth on it's movement and low resistance will help with moving that all around. What's the weight of all motors, arms , servos?

Dave that is a beautiful piece of work. You are sparking a new hope of me proceeding with Magnus! However, right now I am focusing on Questor 2.0.

I had used two of the 212 in/lb torque motors from RobotMarketPlace for the previous Questor's drive train and they are definitely powerful.

I was talking to someone the other day about extending and retracting the B9 arms and he said something about trying power seat mechanisms used on car seats. New ideas to ponder I guess.

As usual Dave I follow your progress with great interest. Keep up the good work!