Picked up a neat wooden robotic arm that uses three linked pairs of syringes as a hydraulic system. One pair swivels the base. Another lifts and lowers the arm. The third actuates the gripper. I used some Gareth-style DIY linear actuators to drive the control syringes, hooked them up to a Dagu Mini Driver board, and now I have a simple programmable hyrdaulic robot arm. The Arduinio code is in the attached zip file.
If you are not very familiar with how hydraulics work (I wasn't until I researched it for this project), check out my hydraulics skill builder for robots post on Make.
In fact servo jitter is not really an issue in this case. The large number of turns needed to move the linear actuator means that any small jitter in the driving servo are not noticable anyway.
Gareth’s DIY actuator design works really well for this application. I have two more servos that are literally on the slow boat from China. Can’t wait to get the other two actuators rigged up!
Of course you couldn’t avoid to automatize it, and the sound is funny too! It’s interesting that you filled the hidraulic circuit with colours as they are more convenient then to avoid moving the wrong part
I think all of us are deligted by inventions from Leonardo. I saw some great toys in the provider site, but the makey makey one is great and funny also!
Thanks, Francisco. I can’t claim and credit for the coloring in the water. It was suggested right in the assembly instructions. It does look cool, though.
Once I get all the syringes automated, I want to add a joystick for control.
