AN introduction TO series elastic ACTUATORS FOR A ROBOT
maybe one of the most fascinating YouTube channels to comply with ideal now is [James Bruton’s] channel for XRobots.co.uk — he’s a prop maker, a toy maker — as well as as his site implies, a robotics guru. put them entirely as well as enjoy him make a few of your youth dream jobs come true. He’s currently working on a real-life robot development of Ultron, as well as he’s messing around with series elastic Actuators ideal now.
In an earlier part of the project, he developed a little robotic arm to demonstrate the movement catch fit he’s going to utilize to manage Ultron (if all goes according to plan he’ll have a walking robot complying with his every move!). He showed exactly how the basic RC servo motor driven arm works, as well as exactly how it most likely wouldn’t be the very best to scale up considering that it has no outside comments — if he has a full size Ultron robot swinging its arms around, somebody might get hurt.
Which led him to creating his own prototype series elastic Actuators utilizing an Arduino, potentiometers, some elastics, as well as a geared DC motor.
As he breaks it down in the video, it’s really relatively simple to understand. The 3D printed leadscrew system he developed is mounted to a link restrained by an elastic. This provides the system a bit of flex before any type of of the parts can get damaged.
A potentiometer on the joint procedures the angle of the arm, as well as a second linear actuator procedures the setting of the motor install along the arm. Under no load, the two potentiometer values can be compared by the Arduino for positioning. introduce outside feedback, as well as the Arduino will notice a mismatch between the two potentiometer values, enabling the robot to stop pushing (or keep pushing depending upon exactly how he programs it).
It’s quite incredible stuff as it is — however to [James] it’s all just fundamental R&D up until he develops the genuine thing.
As always we like [Bruton’s] videos since of the fantastic detail he goes into — as well as thanks to his formidable collection of 3D printers, he makes nearly all the parts himself. have you seen his great BB-8 droid build? He likewise has a full Iron guy costume, as well as a Hulkbuster version to boot — not to mention a quite incredible Wii-mote managed Dalek.
[Thanks Llyod!]