Robot arm control electronics

[edgas10]

hi there , i have a new project that is a robot arm ,just a small one enough to move a microphone.
my question is on the electronics, i want to drive it with stepper motors.
does anyone know what kind of board or interface that i can use to manually control(without softwareand computer) the five axis ?
i ve seen boards on ebay with lcd dro and a remote but dont know if it works
thanks looking forward to hear from you guys
thanks!

[Fivetide]

Hi edgas10 welcome to the forum, some of us mess about with Arduino check this link out

Control an OWI Robotic Arm with Arduino

I have used cheap servos off ebay for my tank which (when finshed) 6 movement axis.

oh and its a cheap way of getting into controls. and lots and lots of add ons.

[edgas10]

hi thanks for your help , i dont think servos would be the best option .
they are not precise and lack of power is a problem too
i have a cnc machine made by me and i want to use steper motor because they have power and are precise.
i want to make my robot in aluminium cut im my cnc machine .
the idea is get a interface board that doesnt need to be connected to the computer to drive stepper motors .
thanks very much

[edgas10]

hi thanks for your help , i dont think servos would be the best option .
they are not precise and lack of power is a problem too
i have a cnc machine made by me and i want to use steper motor because they have power and are precise.
i want to make my robot in aluminium cut im my cnc machine .
the idea is get a interface board that doesnt need to be connected to the computer to drive stepper motors .
thanks very much

oh and i forgotthis:
this is for studio recording so for diferent bands i need that the positions can be stored, to be easely adjusted.

[Robin Hewitt]

i dont think servos would be the best option ... i want to use steper motor because they have power and are precise.

To do it properly you need to gear the motor right down using backlash free components. That means the motors need to be DC, low inertia and powerful at all speeds. There really is only one choice, Google for pancake motors

[D.C.]

this is for studio recording

And you want to use 5 electric motors in there? That hum?

Servos are still your best option for precision, the whole point of servos existence is to provided reliable positioning and they come in many, many different sizes and gear ratios.

[martin54]

There seem to be a few guys on the forum who are interested in stuff like this so it might be an idea to elaborate on what you want to accomplish. More detail you can give people the better placed they will be to help, unless this is an idea you don't want to share just now.

[edgas10]

i think i´ll will use dc geared motors. low noise and power, i dont need speed.
but i still dont know how can i control all of these servos.
is it possible to get a board were all of this is connected and use pots to move each axis?

[edgas10]

whhat do you think about this motor
High Torque Turbo Worm Geared Motor DC Motor GW370 12V 2rpm | eBay

[D.C.]

I personally wouldn't use those for anything. They are expensive and I can't find a spec sheet anywhere.
I've found a very similar looking motor that is 64 rpm instead of 2 rpm:
Free shipping.12V/64rpm/2.5kg.cm dc Gear motor,dc worm motor,Electric windows motor,micro motor-in DC Motor from Industry & Business on Aliexpress.com

And that has some specs. Look at the price, look at the torque and then compare it to the specs for the mg996r at servo database:
TowerPro MG996R Servo Specifications and Reviews

Forgive me as we don't have a lot of information to go on but do you understand, what dc motors, steppers and servos are and do you know how each of them works?

Try watching this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XSXfqd1N58

A servo is just a DC motor, geared down with an absolute positon device and some control electronics. Sure you could use steppers to do what you want but as you design it you will figure out that:

for diferent bands i need that the positions can be stored, to be easely adjusted.

You need to store the microphone positions, this means you need a computer. The computer can be a normal big box PC that you are familiar with or it could be a micro controller like an avr or pic (ie an arduino which has already been suggested).

In order to move from position A to position B, you need to know where the microphone actually is in relation to positions A & B. You can use servos which already come with this feature built in or you can use steppers and spend a load of money and time creating your own custom absolute position encoder.

You need a way of translating real world microphone positions into positions of 5 motors, welcome to Inverse Kinematics.

Arduino Robotic Arm with Inverse Kinematics - Towers of Hanoi - YouTube


If you aren't happy with the performance of hobby servos you can often upgrade the electronics using openservo, or if you have lots of money you can damage your wealth and go for dynamixel servos.

:::ROBOTIS:::