News

Jigsolve: Rotate + vacuum assembly

2016-10-11 Dan

Here are the 3d printed blocks from the previous post and the rotation/nozzle assembly together on a car that will ride on the X axis of the corexy frame. Currently I’m building and testing the lifting mechanism. The lifter moves Z0-2cm.

Now anyone who’s ever done a jigsaw puzzle knows they’re not well cut pieces. Sometimes I lift a piece and the neighbor pieces stick to the one I want. The robot has to deal with this undesirable behavior. my lifter has a spring-loaded ring around and slightly below the nozzle. When a piece is being lifted the ring should be holding the neighbor pieces down. When the nozzle is placing a piece the ring should not interfere. When the head is moving across the table, with or without a jigsaw piece, the ring should not touch the pieces on the table.

Today I’m 3D printing and laser cutting the wood parts to assemble this version and do a live test.

News

Jigsolve: nozzle mounting

2016-10-05 Dan

We’re waiting for parts to be delivered from our suppliers, and since the website is moving smoothly and tutorials are getting written I’ve taken a few days to prototype mounting systems for the pick and place nozzle. Above are some of the test prints.

I’ll probably leave it open-faced and zap-strap around the parts to hold them in place while still being accessible. The next step is to mount them on a system that can be raised and lowered. Then that system has to mount on the gantry and I can finally get back to lifting a jigsaw piece.

The biggest question right now is which way to point the web camera. I think straight down, but still able to see the nozzle tip is the best. I suspect the camera should NOT move up/down, to make it easier to aim the nozzle.

News

Jigsolve: New pnp nozzle arrived

2016-09-22 Dan

The new nozzle arrived from RobotDigg. It’s two months late and never included the tracking number I asked for. Also I told them I wanted 150cm wire from the motor and I got 25. Also I told them my hose is 1/4″ ID. Did they include a male/male 1/4″ connector? No.

On the plus side the manufacturing of the part seems OK. @Aidan Leitch‘s soft nozzle seems to fit like a dream.

Every design problem trickles down from the nozzle. Tomorrow I hit the local hose & fitting supplier to get the missing adapter. Once nozzle tests pass, then i mount the camera above the nozzle and build a new z actuator. Then redesign the X carriage to hold the actuator. Then the Y axis. Then the cable management. With a little luck this thing will be working for the holidays.

These days… I find my patience is short and life moves WAY too slowly. I will pay for talented help. Marginally Clever is doing well and could be going so much faster.

In the News

Energid’s Multi-robot collision avoidance demo

2016-09-21 Dan

In this demo video from Energid, their Actin software is dynamically controlling two robot arms to actively avoiding a human operator interfering with their personal space.

From the Reddit post, “The reflective target is not needed, but it’s a good way to introduce random motion and prove that collision avoidance is working in real-time. The software takes care of motion planning and dynamic collision avoidance.”

I would love to have this in Robot Overlord. The robot on the right is a UR10.  Does anyone know the model o the robot on the left?