uArm??An open source robot arm

You blew an hour and all you managed to do is get your lens clean? C'mon man you're keeping us in suspense here :smiley:

You blew an hour and all you managed to do is get your lens clean?

Got to make progress where you can.

Sorry guys, I'll up the pace....

.. next weekend...

Ok, a teeeny bit of progress. Watch the base here, just to-ing and fro-ing with servo sweep.

Forgive me for powering the servo from the Uno 5V.... I do know better, as most of youse know.

JimboZA:
Ok, a teeeny bit of progress. Watch the base here, just to-ing and fro-ing with servo sweep.

Pretty smooth - great to see progress!

I have yet to do anything on mine, though I am pretty sure I have the acrylic to build it, after I checked my junk pile.

JimboZA:
Forgive me for powering the servo from the Uno 5V.... I do know better, as most of youse know.

You will surely go to heck for that! :smiley:

For now I'm just going to use the cheap hobby servos I have- plastic mechanicals and 4.3kg cm of torque iirc- and I suspect it won't be so smooth under load. But I will probably replace them with something of better quality and higher torque- say 10- for the long run.

If I hadn't already bought them I'd replace the brass standoffs with nylon or similar- they're very heavy. In fact for simplicity I'd go for plastic tubes to act as looooong washers and screws all the way through with nuts on the other end.

It took me a while to figure out how to capture the big bearing.... trial and error brought me to the conclusion that not all the pieces have the same inside diameter, and I'm assuming this was by design. So two pieces with the (very) slightly inside diameter go above the bearing, two other pieces snuggly slide over the outside of the bearing, and the other pieces go below, again slightly smaller i/d. That leaves the bearing kind of "sandwiched" in place. Not 100% convinced I have it right though, but as in the video, it does actually work.

I'd also investigate the supply of thicker smaller bearings. If they come as 4x8x5 rather than 4x8x3 for not much extra cost, I'd go for those since they will then be the exact thickness of the material they sit in. OTOH, if there's little load, I'd actually look for nylon bushing of 8mm o/d and 4mm i/d. 8mm nylon rod cut to 5mm slices and 4mm hole in the middle would do, if not available off the shelf.

All good fun though. Not in a race, so just enjoying the tinkering....

This would make a fine foundation for a small Boom Crane. Replace the Gripper/Suction axis with a Hook and Line. The Parallel Arms would perform the Boom/Jib functions. Replace the end with a TIp sleeve and run a line to the Base, where the Winch would be installed. Rotating Base is nice. It's far more flexible than required, but nevertheless a great starting point for a design. My intended purpose requires about 10meters of line that could lift 200grams partially extended.

You guys are modest and haven't plugged your kickstarter campaign in this thread (if you did, I missed it). But, honestly so many will be using your design and code, so it's a good idea to let other hobbyist know how they might support your efforts. (If linking ot kickstarter campaigns is forbidden, my apologies).
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ufactory/uarm-put-a-miniature-industrial-robot-arm-on-your?ref=live .

Nice work gentlemen.

Gentlemen,
I signed up to receive one of your full kits with the gripper and suction options via sponsorship of your KickStarter campaign.
Looking forward to seeing continued development.

Again, really nice work. 1st class presentation of your product/project. Would love to get our students at Espanglish Institute / Guaymas Workshop developing products of that caliber. Wow!
Peter

Looks like another video on the arm.

Im like very well the robot,but im look if is impossible have the draw,im look the picture and i have redraw all parts,remove the parts if im not like and add other modify for cut the parts with my laser cut...
where is possible download the arduino file for run this robot ??
thanks and best regards

uarm 001.jpg

uarm 002.jpg

uarm 003.jpg

where is possible download the arduino file for run this robot ??

It is claimed to be "open source" but I have not seen the arm structure plans actually published anywhere. The arm itself appears to be a Chinese design, so not sure where the plans would be found.

im think same !!
im write more message with the ufficial mail,but all reply write at May on web site ,but im look only one web store...
this Uarm is open source or not ???
if is open source where are the draw and all other file for arduino ??

Just an observation.
Once they set up kickstart, we haven't heard a peep from UFactory/UArm.

Haven't gotten any progress report from JimboZA, either.

I'm real interested, but suddenly the buzz has gone silent.

Whats up? John

Whats up?

Perhaps they are now going to sell the Chinese design.

zoomkat:
The arm itself appears to be a Chinese design, so not sure where the plans would be found.

They sent the plans (well, DWG file for a laser cutter) to me and Jimbo; I don't know what else Jimbo received, but I also got a part list and assembly diagrams.

So - if this thing goes south on everybody, know that the plans do exist - I'm not releasing them, though, so don't bother to ask me - not yet, anyhow.

I wasn't able to participate in the KS campaign (I wanted to, but then I lost my job - thankfully I started new employment today); let's give them time and see what happens - I'll try to email the contact I have and see what if any response I get.

I'll update this thread depending on what I hear...

The uFactory web site has an update from this month that shows they've been optimizing the design. Their schedule to start shipping is May 1st. I don't see any need to worry about them not meeting their stated goals; it takes time to develop and collect all of the documentation and they're not going to do that if the design is still in flux.

I'll agree it's certainly not "open source" by the Richard Stallman definition; if it was then all of their docs would already be online. They're obviously trying to make a commercial go of it and assumedly don't want anyone beating them to the punch. In Shenzhen the nearest opportunistic cloner is probably next door :wink:

As an aside, this just popped up on Thingiverse: Palletizing Robot Arm (3DOF, 50cm reach, 125g lift) by i-make-robots - Thingiverse

UPDATE; while I was composing my epistle, there were additional posts. Makes some of what I said redundant.

So, the open source thing only covered the two of you guys?

I thought the purpose of open source was to get many folks in the community to experiment with a design and, perhaps develop improvements, software enhancements, enlargements, miniaturization , etc. I noticed that the design is a bit wobbly when a side load is applied. I have structural and acrylic skills that could offer some mitigation of that problem. I could easily fashion all the parts from sheet acrylic and a bandsaw. The only critical parts of the build are the pivot point placement. That would require match-drilling the 2 sides of each arm segment with brad-point drill bits. But, alas, the open source plans are a secret. Pity.

Did JimboZA ever get his project finished and working? Haven't heard from JimboZA since Feb 2, 2014 about his build. He went for some screws and never came back.

Did you, cr0sh, ever do anything with your drawings?

This is turning out to be a very closely held open source project, to my way of thinking.

Just saying.

I considered springing for the $69 acrylic kit, but I've watched too many startups go belly-up when the project leaders suddenly find themselves "cash-rich" and start buying new cars rather than putting it into materials to cover promised merchandise.

I'm retired and on a limited budget. If I get too wild with this new hobby, my wife ---- well just let me say that her favorite saying is "The quickest way to a man's heart is through his chest, with a sharp knife".

John

A quick Google search that a "Palletizing Robot" has been around for some time. The below ebay offering is interesting.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Axis-palletizing-robot-manipulator-model-with-no-arduino-servo-control-board-/271275924586?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

https://www.google.com/search?as_q=Palletizing+Robot+&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=

Chagrin:
As an aside, this just popped up on Thingiverse: Palletizing Robot Arm (3DOF, 50cm reach, 125g lift) by i-make-robots - Thingiverse

I looked this over and it's about the same thing, but uses Nema 17 steppers.

There is no PDF, but he does supply DFX files. Sketchup will import them, and export PDF files.

Problem is, I can't figure out how to display them in 2D with blueprint-like dimensions. Does anyone know how?

John

is open source ?? ok,write the link to the arduino file and draw of parts!!
all we know the world of 3d printer,that is open source and inside that we look all file and all draw,here no...for me the uarm isn't a open source project !!