标签: robotic

I must say, there are so many things going on in my world at the moment that it's making my head spin. In the case of my Caveman Diorama, for example, I have some mega-exciting news with regard to some of the artifacts (see Caveman floodlight design ). For the purposes of this column, however, I want to focus on my Capriciously Cunning Chronograph.   As you can see in the image below, this is starting to look rather tasty, not the least that I've finally gotten around to implementing the Time display mode (until recently I'd been focusing on one of the Music display modes as illustrated in this YouTube video ).   (Source: Max Maxfield / EE Times)   Even though the Chronograph looks pretty fabulous in this image, I have to say that it looks way better in the real world. Out of all of my projects, this is the one that causes folks to exclaim "Wow!" when they first see it running.   As an aside, observe the conglomeration of circuit boards to the right of the clock. On the near-side-left we see an Arduino Mega at the bottom with my audio spectrum analyzer shield plugged in on top. Behind this we see a breadboard containing a temporary deployment of my real-time clock module. My chum Duane Benson has created a new shield to hold this module along with a temperature pressure sensor module and a 9DOF (nine degrees of freedom) module containing a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a 3-axis magnetometer. Last but not least, on the right we see a smaller breadboard containing a Simblee module, which allows me to control the Cunning Chronograph via Bluetooth using my iPad. I'm going to be relocating this Simblee module onto a prototyping shield as soon as I get a spare moment, but we digress...   The last time we looked at the Cunning Chronograph, I was ruminating over the back panel. Sometimes we get so excited about the way something looks from the front that we neglect the parts that typically remain unseen, but I want people to say "Oooh!" no matter which part of this little beauty they are looking at. On this basis, I decided I wanted my back panel to look like the Visio drawing I created below.   (Source: Max Maxfield / EE Times)   I'm particularly pleased by the Morse code sequence in the center depicting the rather apposite Dr. Seuss quote: "How did it get so late so soon?" The problem, of course, was to implement this little scamp. Cutting out all of these slots and holes by hand would have been extremely time-consuming; also, it would have been incredibly difficult to get everything precisely aligned. The other side of the coin is that even small misalignments would have made the back panel look pretty shoddy.   Thus it was that I contacted the creators of the Makerarm -- Zaib Husain and Azam Shahani -- and asked them if they could help me out.   I think you'll agree that the result as seen below is pretty spectacular, especially now it's been stained. The following images show the panel on its own and mounted (just resting, not screwed) on the back of the cabinet.   (Source: Max Maxfield / EE Times)   (Source: Max Maxfield / EE Times)   (Source: Max Maxfield / EE Times)   My next tasks will be to attach the power, USB, and audio connectors to the small panel at the bottom; move all of the sensors and the Simblee module onto shields, mount everything inside the cabinet, and reattach the main back panel.   This latter task leads me to a new problem. The panel is currently attached using 5/8" #6 flat-head (counter-sunk) wood screws (you can see some of these holding the smaller connector panel in the final image above). The issue is that I'm currently using screws with a Philips drive and a plain finish. Ideally, I would prefer screws with slotted heads and a black oxide or black phosphate finish, but I've not been able to track these down anywhere. I can live with Philips drive -- although I’d prefer slotted for the antique look and feel -- but I really want the black finish, and painting existing screws black simply doesn’t look as good (any suggestions?).   Last but not least, I'm thinking of lighting the back panel up from the inside. In the case of the slots around the outside of the panel, I was thinking of illuminating the inside of the cabinet with a subtle red glow (maybe have it flickering a bit as though there are flames inside). Meanwhile, I could use white light to illuminate the Morse code area in the middle. I will, of course, be using NeoPixels for all of this, which will allow me to add some interesting effects, but we'll leave that as a topic for a future column. In the meantime, as always, I welcome all comments and suggestions.

哆啦A梦曾经是风靡全球的日本动漫，相信80后的小伙伴都非常熟悉，不过看着哆啦A梦胖乎乎的圆手，相信很多小伙伴都曾经疑惑过，没有手指的圆手，是怎么抓东西的呢？其实如果看过漫画版本的人应该记得，漫画中曾明确交代，手部的功能就是对物体有吸附作用，也就是说，哆啦A梦圆圆的手其实是利用未来科技制造的任何东西都吸的住的防滑手。所以虽然圆圆的，却什么都可以拿的了。 那时候设想的未来科技，什么时候能变成现实呢？其实，现在已经可以做到啦，有人制造出了哆啦A梦手： 2011年 Cornell 大学、 Chicago 大学以及 iRobot 公司三方联合，成功造出了“哆啦A梦的手”： Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material。 这款球形手无论从制作还是原理上说都不复杂。如其标题所说：based on the jamming of granular material。其夹持部分只需要一个气球， 在里面放上一些咖啡粉即可。 放满了咖啡粉的气球与真空泵相连接。 其工作原理也十分简单，如下图所示： 球形手以柔软的状态接近被夹持物体 球形手在物体周围发生形变，包裹住物体 真空泵抽气, 球形手中的咖啡粉由于负压紧实变硬，夹持住物体 球形手完成夹持, 物体可被操纵 下面是这款球形手工作时的视频： 这款球形手甚至还有一些弹射功能： 所以说，如果哆啦A梦的手真的以此为原理，那么它应该是柔软的，揉捏很容易变形。当哆啦A梦需要夹持物体时，手会变硬。不过这种球形手有几个明显不足： 对于纸张等没有“高度”的物体难以夹持 在外太空中失效 这款球形手的制作和原理是如此的简单，以至于一个人在家中也可以轻松地自制这样一款球形手。比如下面这个教程： http://www.carlitoscontraptions.com/tag/jamming-gripper/

All engineers have wished for a robotic arm at some point. Unfortunately, they're quite costly. Dan Royer from Marginally Clever, however, has released an open-source 3DOF robotic arm that is sure to get many excited.   While the robot in the video is only his first prototype, you can easily see that it is quite capable. Dan built-in one nice approach—an understanding of inverse kinematics. This means that instead of having to program specific transitions and positions for each motor or servo in the chain, you can simply give the robot coordinates where you want the tip to be and it will figure the rest out. This saves so much time and reduces trial and error considerably.   You can download the code as well as the design files for the arm on his page . Keep an eye on his site, because his ultimate goal is to build a low-cost 6DOF version. He isn't stopping development on this version either. Immediate plans include bearings for smoother movement and a nice openGL based interface to allow for you to manipulate the arm visually. Caleb Kraft, Chief Community Editor, EE Times

At some point in their lives, all engineers wanted a robotic arm. Unfortunately, they're quite costly. Dan Royer from Marginally Clever, however, has released an open-source 3DOF robotic arm that is sure to get many excited.   While the robot in the video is only his first prototype, you can easily see that it is quite capable. Dan built-in one nice approach—an understanding of inverse kinematics. This means that instead of having to program specific transitions and positions for each motor or servo in the chain, you can simply give the robot coordinates where you want the tip to be and it will figure the rest out. This saves so much time and reduces trial and error considerably.   You can download the code as well as the design files for the arm on his page . Keep an eye on his site, because his ultimate goal is to build a low-cost 6DOF version. He isn't stopping development on this version either. Immediate plans include bearings for smoother movement and a nice openGL based interface to allow for you to manipulate the arm visually. Caleb Kraft, Chief Community Editor, EE Times