Delta robot update

Here's our delta robot after gluing the "hip" joints to the servo horns and assembling the limbs.
Note that the joints are simply bits of elastic tied through the connecting pieces. We don't know yet if this is a suitable way of making joints, but they look ok so far - and allow for multiple degrees of movement, in all different directions, not just in one direction (without having to use expensive ball-and-socket type joints)

Please, no more comments about how messy the desk is or "haven't I seen that black guitar somewhere before?" - we tend to tidy up after we've finished what we're  making. Which, given the number of projects we've actually completed, explains why the place is always such a mess!

Now to let the glue dry before trying to actually move it around.
So while that's happening, let's get on with the controller board. As ever, it'll be a USB HID device, driven by a trusty PIC 18F2455

(the final robot may not be usb-driven, but putting a USB chip on during development makes it really easy to read back values for debugging and to see what's actually going on in your code!)

Delta robot and laser cutting

At another of our HackLlan meetings, and in preparation for the show-and-tell (provisionally booked for Sat 26th November, on the same day as the Llangollen Xmas Festival) we've had the laser cutter out, busy making and preparing a number of different projects.

First up is a simple three-servo delta-robot.
This robot will be programmed with a script to perform repetitive tasks such as pick up, move, release an object. There are no plans for any further  intelligence to be programmed into it at this stage - but perhaps could be used as a project for any follow-up workshop from the show-and-tell session.

The photo above shows the main structure with the servos mounted on it at 120 degree intervals. Slots were cut into a round disk, to allow the servo heads to move through 180 degrees, perpendicular to the base. The servos were lined up by placing their corners on top of some small cross-hairs etched into the base and stuck down with double-sided tape (in the final version we'll use permanent plastic cement, but for now we may need to move them around again as development continues!)

There are three legs, each made up of three lengths of acrylic.
The "hip" joint - the part that connects to the servo - is a single piece with a large circular head (for connecting to the servo horn). The lower part of the leg - from the "knee" to the ankle - is made up of two pieces connected either side of the top piece.

We're still thinking about how to make the joints, as the "ankle" joints need to free-moving in all axis directions. Someone suggested hobby-sized ball joints (like those found on remote control cars, helicopters etc). A cruder (but easier and cheaper) solution might be to simply use elastic bands to make the joints....

The Automotive Industry Goes Full Auto

When I hear the word robotics, I automatically start thinking about Johnny 5 from those 1980’s movies, but in recent years, even recent days, robotics has become more popular. My personal fondness of robotics took off when I was reading about a U.S based company called Hanson Robotics that was developing animated robots with pretty robust artificial intelligence; technology so advanced that ‘Jules’ as he is called, could identify you by your face and respond to nearly any question you could throw at him. 

The implications for human like robotics are always the topic of science fiction and reality. This is certainly a topic that could foster hours of conversation within MIT’s elite. Automation is the topic at hand, and it seems to be the talk in nearly every facet of operations, including information technology. Automate a process and you will not only reduce the margin of human error, you will ultimately reduce your direct labor cost, and it is certainly easier to monitor quality when functions are linear. The very reason why CNC machining took off in the 1970’s was because it was computer controlled, precise, and nearly autonomous in nature, except for a little human interaction by the operator.

 
When robotics started to take off in the automotive industry in the 1980’s, specifically on the production line, the cost of technology was far greater. Not that it isn’t very costly today, but compare the prices of even personal computer technology during that period and you’ll understand what I am really implying. There was an obvious return on investment that automotive manufacturers like Ford and General Motors realized, but the upfront costs were in fact great. You would only want to invest in such technology if you were expecting to produce extremely high levels of inventory, where gained efficiency would create a higher margin of cost savings, resulting in a shorter investment return period. This would also help supply consumer demand if scarcity was a threat, but we’ll save micro economics 101 for another day. I believe that history is repeating itself as far as the investment in robots goes, especially on this scale. The North American robotics industry, represented by the Robotic Industries Association or RIA, has released purchase data for the first 2 quarters of 2011 and the numbers are really good. As a whole, robotics orders are up 41% overall, and the industry says that is the best results they have seen since 2007. 

Nearly 600 million dollars in robotics were ordered by North American based companies. When compared nominally to the same base period in 2010, there were 50% gains in purchase orders for the second quarter this year. Most of the orders have come from automotive companies and their suppliers. It is no surprise that the automotive industry purchases more robotics technology than any other industry but both the food and consumer retail industry saw growth as well; 60% versus their previous results in 2010. However, automotive has taken a hit in recent years, so paired with increased exports from small to medium sized firms, manufacturing here in the United States is starting to see a few gleams of sun through their piles of inventoried steel. I would just like to see towns like Braddock, Pennsylvania recover after the U.S steel industry took a nose dive. I know that this is another industry that needs help, and that if growing, would produce high paying jobs. Now that I’m reporting on the recovery of the automotive sector, let us see if we can’t jump start a few industries through speculation and optimism.