DIY Delta Robot Robotics Arduino

I’d like to call my first Delta robot finished. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a prototype… so what evs. What I learned: The skinny arms attached to the head need to be EXACTLY the same length… or else they will twist all wonky. This doesn’t impair movement really… but it just makes the thing look like it’s drunk. Also, if you’re using plastic, make sure it wont give at all. Tupperware was an ok start, but any give in your connections will make movement a lot less sharp… and the robot again moves like its drunk. So next time I’ll take it slower and make sure all my measurements are precise, and my connections are STRONG. The hobby ball joints worked alright, I’m likely to try out swivel ball links instead for my next trick… and I’m going to knock my pushrod size down from 4-40 to 2-56. My next delta…

So this is the lens cap I concocted for the head of my delta. It’s made from a plastic paint jar that I bought in a pack which I sanded the hell out of it so it would catch the light nicely. Also, I found this excellent example of a delta controlled by the iphone’s accelerometer. This is what I would like to nail down next as I move from controlling mine with the wiiChuck. I wish I understood enough about programming and the math that goes into making a delta robot do its thing, but for now I’m relying on what’s out there in the ether. Awesome example: I am ultimately trying to control my delta’s movement with an XY slider, and the LED on top with the iphone’s accelerometer  through touchOSC… but It’s in progress.

I’m getting there. This evening I permanently connected the ball joints to the rods and recreated the head of the delta out of some pretty black plastic! It’s come a long way from crappy cardboard and twisted legs to the sexy thing it is now: Haha…. The thing hooks my glasses half way through this video. Teehee… All and all I am pretty satisfied with my progress today. So far I have it running with a GUI in processing for full control, and a code I found for the wiiChuck. (however slow the movement may be). For the wiiChuck code I used, check out this site. They pretty much outline their whole project and offer helpful information: Delta Robot controlled with WiiChuck Also, there is some information on Don’t Buy, Make! Next I will get the LED working on top… that’s all icing.

Ok, so I uploaded some test code to the robot yesterday after all was assembled to find out rather quickly that I had attached the motors wrong. The arms were sticking out at all the wrong angels causing the whole thing to look like it had fallen down stairs. I have no idea how I didn’t realize earlier that this design was going to fail, or why I even aligned them the way I did in the first place, but lesson learned. When attaching your servos to the base here is what to do and what not to do… if for some reason you think like me: I did remake a new base today out of a take-home container. We have millions of them around my house so I chose a shallow circular dish with a flat bottom I drew an equilateral triangle in the middle and then cut out…

Today I made the arms for my delta robot ! I originally was planning on using aluminum for these pieces but it was a pain grinding through the material with my mighty Dremel… It took me more than a few minutes to make each cut and the metal heated up quite a bit. I was getting discouraged about the prospect of drilling free handedly through this stuff, so I went on youtube to find out any tips on drilling through metal. It was around then that I saw a black plastic hanger laying on the ground near my bed and decided to use it to make my arms instead. The video above is me testing out the structure so far with a code which allows you to control the robot with a GUI in processing. For the code I used, check out this guy’s blog: Matt Greensmith’s Ramblings TOMORROW…… Delta will…