A printable robot arm, a little bigger than the usual hobby servo once.
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That's where I'm currently heading ( My 2019 ) :
The four robots I build since this project started.
Version 4 now nearly done and in testing.
Take a look at the Gripper I designed for my Robots:
Version 4 is now nearly complete:
I also started uploading the files on github:
https://github.com/4ndreas/BetaBots-Robot-Arm-Project
And a components list for version 4:
It's been 4 years since I started this project. Its had some downs and a lot of ups. Time to give you an update about whats going on.
Notice: "No robots were harmed during making this video."
I post regular updates on my Instagram feed if you are interested in faster updates:
https://www.instagram.com/4ndreash
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFNmSFqofN_/?taken-by=imakerobots
The link above is a video of the working inverse kinematics. Now I don't have the arm on my desk, so I can't write the firmware that ties the arm to RO. However! RO is ready to connect and talk with Mantis.
My interest is drifting towards easier ways to move the arm in VR. The more I use RO the more I want to fly like an FPS game and push/pull the virtual model rather than click buttons on the side.
Hello Everybody! Dan Royer here. You may know me from helping such projects as the PancakeBot and the Cypress Umbrella. Glad to be working with @Andreas Hoelldorfer. He's got the hardware and I've got the software, so it will make a good team. Above you see the latest version of Robot Overlord (RO) simulating the Mantis arm. RO is a robot simulation package I've written in Java. Think of it as my One Ring.
First stage was to port the Inventor models into the system and animate them. The line you see running through the model is the software's mental model of the forward kinematics (FK). The FK informs the rendering engine where to draw the parts of the model AND it lets the software check for illegal/impossible arm moves. FK means "if my joints are at these angles, tell me where is the finger tip."
Second stage will be to get the inverse kinematics (IK) working. IK is the other direction - "I know where the finger is, tell me where the joint angles need to be." It will be a naive solution full of singularities because I'm only marginally clever (MC). Sigularities are cases where there may be many valid solutions, and picking an answer is hard for a computer.
Third stage will be firmware to make this arm talk with RO like all MC robots.
More generally, MC is working on adding Vive VR support and record/playback to RO. That will mean telepresence work, gamification, and more.
Dan out!
After version 4 (green) works quite well. I decided to stick with the basic design and improve this version instead of trying another approach.
I started with the Gripper and will work from top to bottom down the robot arm
http://chaozlabs.blogspot.com/2016/04/mantis-robot-arm-part-1-gripper.html
I will post a video about the part and a small article on my blog where all the links and part lists will be.
I just posted a update about my 3d printed, 6-axis robot arm project:
All six axis of my robot arm are moving now:
I build a case for the electronics, nothing special but it will serve the puropse.
I use now Nema23 steppers a high power stepper driver and a Arduino Due board with a Ramps-FD shield. I plan to build my own shield but this have to wait a little bit. I defiantly will stick to the Arduino Due. For now the Ramps-FD shield works fine and its quite cheap (25€).
Currently I'm waiting for the large bearings to arrive, they are not so easy to find. In the meantime I started wiring all up, the cable tubes inside seams to work this time so less ugly cables.
Everything looks very pomising now I'm very happy with the new design and looking forward to the all in action.
The only thing left is the rotating base. I try to get the construciton done this weekend.
I also uploaded step files on github so you can take a look on the arm.
https://github.com/4ndreas/BetaBots-Robot-Arm-Project/tree/master/Green/step
Also all other inventor files are online.
For those who have no CAD I uploaded the robot A360Viewer an online cad viewer:
I tried Onshape but it had a problem viewing all the parts???
I regularly upload pictures in this here:
Here is my new Video of the robot arm project:
I also started uploading the cad files on github:
https://github.com/4ndreas/BetaBots-Robot-Arm-Project
Still a mess I try to clean it up in the next weeks.
I'm working on a new version based on the experience I made with the previous versions.
The plan is to use stepper motors and timing belt gears.
The plan is to use a Nema23 stepper for the rotary base,
Joint one and two will be Nema24 ( this: http://www.omc-stepperonline.com/dual-shaft-cnc-stepper-motor-nema-24-100mm-4nm566-ozin-24hs393008d-p-388.html )
Joint 3 and 4 Regular Nema17 stepper and for the 5 joint a HerkuleX DRS-0101 .
But nothing is final now.
Power supply will be 24V-36V I guess.
Print all parts and assemble them ;)
This robot looks awesome! but I have 2 questions:
1. does it have homing features? (so we can guarantee the start position is the same, over and over again)
2. Can this be controlled by serial commands? or gcode?
Thanks,
Roy
Hi,
I am a student who is looking for an low cost robot arm for automating the build plate removal for the prusa i3 mk3s.
Would this robot suit the job in terms of load capacity?
Thanks
Stated payload of 2 kg is similar to the AR3 ... in the $1500 range. I'm assuming there is at least some commonality in motors/steppers/materials, to achieve this kind of capacity. There is a kit version of a spin off of your older arm (BCN3D) for about $750, but tests I saw indicated a payload nearer .2 kg. I'm assuming that your version 4 is likely to be nearer the $1500?
Thanks.
hi，i am your fans ， I want to know how to choose these motors ，thanks
Hi，Great project. I'm very interested in the design process of this robotic arm.Now，I‘m a college student, and I want to design a 3D printing mechanical arm like this by myself, but I don't know how to start,I would appreciate it if you could give me some hints.
Hey, I am part of a larger project that is working to build a 3D printing robotic arm. The project needs the 3D printing arm because we are going to be printing something 3 m in diameter. Our current plan is to pick an arm that is already out there and then modify it to our purposes. I was wondering what successes have you had in getting a 3D printing arm up and going? If you want I can share with you some articles I found documenting people who have done it successfully with a commercially available arm. Cheers!
This project is really wonderful, and I am deeply attracted by it. As a college student, I want to design a 3D printing mechanical arm like this by myself, but I don't know how to start, so I would like to ask you what analytical design software is used in the design of this mechanical arm.What knowledge base does the design require?Is there any reference to the learning books recommended?I would appreciate it if you could give me some hints.
Hi Andreas, amazing work. Can you tell me what kind of material you are using to print your parts with? And what kind of 3d printer your using?
Brilliant work Andreas. Video sehr genial. Can you explain why you opted for belt drive over planetary gearing systems? Cost? Simplicity?
Watching your robot move in the video was very inspiring! I'm working on one too but mine is just vaporware at this time. Seeing yours work so well got me motivated!
Les
New and very clever harmonic drive implementation that you may be interested. The video on the page: https://hackaday.com/2017/01/17/3d-printed-strain-wave-gear-needs-your-help/
Hi Andreas,
the stl files are not available in git hub for version 4. the folder seems empty
Hi Andreas,
Ive started to build your Version 4 robotic arm, please could you tell me where i can purchase the Non LED and LED encoders.
Also do you have an english version of the BOM
Kind Regards
For anyone here, looks like this project is a derivative of: https://github.com/BCN3D/BCN3D-Moveo, Obviously things are tweaked, but as I was trying to build one myself, a lot of things were left to guess. So heres a link to the main project, which includes docs.
cheers.
This project was started in 2015, the Moveo was only launched two months ago if I'm not mistaken.
Looks like i was mistaken. BCN took Andreas first design for their use. Its very annoying trying to find the source of truth on this one, since no one is giving appropriate attribution or explanation of history. Thanks for the heads up.
Perhaps we should all post on that github issue until its resolved?
I have added a pull request to acknowledge. Hopefully they rectify soon. Very bummed at the publicity without proper acknowledgments.
Hi Andreas.
You have done great job and I guess a huge amount of try and redo things :)
I am trying to do some similar design, my goal is to hide all motors (step motors for now) inside, make them invisible. I do try to use some planetary gears and keep the motor inside the knee.
And .... meantime I found a great video of KUKA industrial hand.... where, what a surprise, all motors are NOT inside the arm but at the basement... incredible!!!!
Basement: I know what are trying to say: "in the base".
Hello I wonder what is the encoder for Nema stepper? Thanks!
Hi Has anyone exported the STL files as I don't have Inventor
here you can have inventor
http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/inventor-professional
Thanks Yueh its a great design started to print a few problems with warping great Job Andreas looking forward to your new design
Hi Andreas, Your design is quite impressive. You seam to have the problems with the software thaw. There are some programming platforms for the robots available, but they are too simple (like just few sliders and the timeline to store poses in relation to time nodes), or too complicated (like ROS RobotC or even Arduino solutions). In our company (link below) we produce tobots for education (hardware) and we've created the software platform to run them. This platform (RobLAB) is inpired by the real - industrial robot software, but it's dedicated for the education purposes, so it's not related to just one construction (kinematics) - in fact you can define any crazy kinematics you want and controll it the proper way. There's even reverse kinematics for most tipical constructions (Puma, Scara, Delta, Portal) to enable eazy programming and controlling. There are two REAL programming languages implemened - Melfa Basic (of Melfa/Mitsubishi robots) and ISO (G-code) - so if you learn how to program your own robot, you will be able to program the real thing (real industrial robot). There's even the 3D simulation available in the definable environment with the phisics. RobLAB was dedicated to our robot with our proprietarry controller, but we are working on moving to the Arduino platform to give the independent constructors oportunity to actually use their wonderfull constructions the right way. Please, let me know if You're interested in getting the demo version for testing. http://mechatronik.pl/programy-2/oprogramowanie-roblab-detail#filmy-i-foto
Hi, sorry for the delay (the holidays...).
No, unfortunately it' not free. I've just proposed our newcomming version that we are working on to Andreas to test it as a beta tester.
We are looking for betatesters. To qualify as a candidate, one have to be a good mechanical constructor (one that makes an effort to construct something more advanced than a hotglued stick robot or have taken the 3D files from the net). So, their projects must be original and interesting. If You are a person like that, You'll have the chance to have the beta version of our program if You are not, soon the full version will be available to purchase or the demo version (with some restrictions like not being able to control the HW objects and some other restrictions) will be available to download.
beautiful I decided to build it and I assembled but do not understand that firmware and software used someone I can 'help ?
Andreas Hoelldorfer
Erik Knutsson
Alberto
Dan Royer
Mykolas Juraitis
I am totally new to this field, I am trying to start making this arm but haven't found a clear starting point, is there any guide or something written especially for electornics