I want to build a robotic arm for my international course, but this time I want to make my project more reachable compared to my last semester idea. I want it to be controlled by buttons or joysticks before thinking to upgrade it if I can.
I received 3 servos identical to the ones I need so I tested them to make sure they work properly. I tested them one at a time so I could power supply them with only the Raspberry and my computer.
I also had all the parts I printed so I started removing the supports on the pieces.
I didn't do much during the Wednesday session but Vladimir told me I needed to start printing the pieces of the arm, so I downloaded all the parts on Bambu Studio and I prepared the plates to print them during the week. I had a total of 22 hours of impression so I divided it in 3.
Now that I have some basis to control servos with Python I need to work on the structure of the arm. Joon-Ho showed me a video of a robotic arm controlled by Arduino and an app, so I can take this project and upgrade it. He gave me the STEP files to print the parts of the arm.
The first thing I did was to watch the video several times to see how it works and on what will I have to work on.
My first issue is to control the servos with Python rather than Arduino. Then I have to adapt the basis to fit a Raspberry PI inside because with a terminal adapter it bigger than an Arduino card.
I then brought home some cardboard to create a first shitty version of a robotic arm with servos controlled by Python. I was able to control 2 part of the arm just as the clamp even if it doesn't work properly.
I picked up a Rasberry pi at L'Atelier to get familiar with it because it is the first time I use one. I firstly wanted to program in C++ but I really suck at programming so I thought Python was the best language to start. With Python, someone recommend me Thonny as an IDE so I downloaded it then set up the Rasberry pi on the App.
My first objective was to light a LED only with my computer just to familiarize myself with the link between Python and the Rasberry. I then worked with buttons, a buzzer and a servo (SG90).
I worked a little bit every day to be able to control the servo with 2 push buttons and this is the code I used :