A cheap robotic arm based on the OWI arm. 5 potentiometers were added to give it a position feedback,plus one motor controller to control the gripper and motor shield to control the 4 other motors of joints, also a notebook webcam for live stream from the top of the arm and a ultra sonar sensor to measure distance from objects.all this will be controlled from web via a node.js web server plus - socket.io and serial node.js librery.
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finish the web interface:
The basic arm 5 motors are connected to arduino motor shield but because there is only 4 dc motors on this shield I added a motor controller that I had which only on working motor connection but all I was needed is one...
I also put 5 potentiometers with hot glue to have a feedback to position all of them are connected to A0-A4 analog pins on the arduino via the motor shield. A5 is for the ultrasonic range finder. also I connected the LED which came with the arm kit to the last digital pin available on the motor shield...
The arm is connected with USB to windows xp which I use as a small desktop server :
this server is running node.js app with socket.io and serial module and also Yawcam for live webcam feed:
All this setup is connected to my webserver which serve the static pages,scripts,css,images.
moving arm with webcam controllable from web.
- Actuators / output devices: DC motor - 5
- Control method: remote control via web
- CPU: atmega168
- Operating system: windows XP
- Power source: 9v power supply
- Programming language: Arduino, javascript
- Sensors / input devices: USB webcam, potenciometers, SRF04 Ultra Sound
- Target environment: indoor
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/cheap-robotic-arm
