Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) give you that extra hand when you need it. There’s also a version with arms at the waist. Find out more in the
IEEE times article.
Here’s a shot of my workbench right now.
I went through three different wrists before I got the measurements right. The bevel gears were brushing against the forearm or the mounting screws. I also reprinted the wrist gears with a smaller center hole so they can hold the 5mm bolt that runs across the center. I need to find a way to attach that bolt to the wrist. A nut, a lockwasher, and another nut? Double nuts? Seems to work on the Prusa 3D printer hobbed bolt.
In the next version the elbow joint will change to increase the range of motion. In the current version there’s little or no room to add braces across the bicep pieces. Braces are needed to keep the bicep from twisting along it’s major axis. I haven’t worked out how to drive power to the elbow rotation yet. I’d like to put the stepper motor down at the shoulder again, but I might have to put it up near the elbow. Try it and see!
I’ve also started to plan the limit switches. In the Arm3 the switches are very close to the shoulder. There is less opportunity for error the further out they move. An error of 0.1mm near the point of rotation can turn into many mm out at the far end.
The total length of the forearm is something like 235mm. Once the tool changer goes on the end the distance from elbow to tool changer will be 250mm.
We got a mention in MAKE at the tail end of Robots Week. Thanks, Caleb! Please keep sharing with your friends. All my marketing is all done through word of mouth – usually my own. Your help drives sales, which gives me the resources to keep designing.
According to Optical Society a new method has been developed to communicate with satellites, the ISS, and distant bodies like the Moon and Mars. Speeds are as good as broadband. Still no way around the 1.3 second delay tho, so don’t expect to be pwning noobz from Mare Nectaris any time soon. If I think about the per capita bandwidth I get a little too excited. This is a great day for science! Now we can all be space pirates.
Completely non-electric computing to control the big guns on navy ships. So much clever in one place!
It’s pretty rare that I get 6 uninterrupted hours. I’m pretty sure I spent most of the time trying not to bite my nails, which is what happens when I’m working on a really hard problem. Let’s take a tour of where I’m going here and what’s changed.
(more…)
