News

Jigsolve: tested rotation, picking, and placing

2016-10-17 Dan

Controlled rotation, picking, and placing demonstrated. I’ve built a Z axis with a linear actuator and have not tested it yet.

I’m now building and testing a spring loaded mechanism that keeps neighbor pieces on the table when the current piece is inserted or removed.

If you’re enjoying this robot coming together please tell instagram to put me on their robots channel so I can bring this kind of cool stuff to more eyeballs.

“Hi @Instagram! Please put @i-make-robots on your #robots channel. Thank you!”

Thank you in advance for sharing with your friends and following along. Your support keeps me strong!

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?