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Project Ideation
Project Ideation
1- Tell us about the idea of your project. Why do you care about this? What were you inspired by? Include images and videos of similar projects
1- Tell us about the idea of your project. Why do you care about this? What were you inspired by? Include images and videos of similar projects
I wanted to join the maker diploma from the very first beginning to learn more about how to design and make smart products.
Since I have an experience with CAD softwares but never designed a smart device I thought the closest thing to my field is a robotic arm, robotic arms vary in application and can be designed to do almost anything more accurately.
Project Construction
Project Construction
2- Explain the CAD process of your project. How did you use the software to design your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)
2- Explain the CAD process of your project. How did you use the software to design your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)
The process started with searching and learning more about robotic arms and what are their common applications.
I found many that can be designed but none included drawing sheets or any dimensions so I had to design almost all the parts from scratch
Before Starting the design I had to download many step files to adjust the space and mounting holes in my design :
Arduino Uno
Breadboard
Servo motor
servo motor blades
microservo
Also, took the measurements off of my power supply and designed it
Side 1
Side 1
front and back sides of the box
side 2
side 2
the other two sides (one has a hole for power supply mounting)
box base
box base
designed to have extra space for the hanging servo and wiring.
the taps positions were projected from the sides
box top side
box top side
same as the base
base mount
base mount
6 cm 3d printed part
first servo motor supports
first servo motor supports
designed based on the step file downloaded to hold the first link servo motor
link 1 base
link 1 base
link 1 wooden parts
link 1 wooden parts
15 cm parts designed to fit inside the previous part with 3mm holes
link 2
link 2
almost the same as link 1 but with scaled down base and tapped wooden links
robot grib and slider
robot grib and slider
Designed according to the step files of the micro and standard servo motors and those are the final stl files to print
Autodesk Fusion Personal (Not for Commercial Use) 2024-09-18 09-24-12.mp4Note : at the tip of the last link the used step file is a 4-horn star but it is only used for dimensions, in implementation process and assembly a 2-horn star is used.
3- Explain the fabrication process of your project. How did you use the machine to fabricate your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)
3- Explain the fabrication process of your project. How did you use the machine to fabricate your project? (List the softwares/tools/materials...etc that you used)
Malky design laser cutting machine
3-mm Ply wood
Fusion 360 for exporting dxf files as well as designing
RDworks for cutting preparations
Prusa I3 MK3S 3D-printer
PLA
M3 bolts&nuts
Ultimaker Cura for model slicing
For the wooden parts, 3 sheets were used and only 1 side of the box was cut from a scrab wood that hat suitable area.
Cut power : 45 %
Cut Speed : 40 %
For the3D printed parts, I actually used 9 grams extra beyond my quota ( a total of 99 grams approximately).
Infill : 10%
Resolution: 0.2 mm
Supports: used tree supports this time to be able to remove the supports in the 3mm slots
(Thanks to Abdelrahman Oraby for removing those supports without any damage to the parts)
Project Electronics & Power Management
Project Electronics & Power Management
4- Describe your electronic circuit. What are the input and action components? What is the function of each? How do the components integrate together to form your smart system? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)
4- Describe your electronic circuit. What are the input and action components? What is the function of each? How do the components integrate together to form your smart system? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)
Arduino UNO
bluetooth module (input device reciever)
arduino bluecontrol (friendly app that enable easy controlling of the robotic arm)
Arduino IDE
4 Servo motors (move the links and hand of the robotic arm)
micro servo (opens and closes the gribber)
any phone (input device giving orders)
TinkerCad
Power Supply (needed as many servos were used)
breadboard
Jumper Wires
All servos are connected on a breadboard and are connected to arduino on pins 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10
After uploading code on arduino, the bluetooth module was connected
5- What is your power source? How did you select the suitable power source for your project? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)
5- What is your power source? How did you select the suitable power source for your project? (List the softwares/tools/components...etc that you used)
Used a 5V 5A power supply whose input comes directly from any 220V power source/ socket.
it has 5 terminals : 2 were connected to the socket and 2 from which the 5V 5A comes out and feeds the whole circuit.
Project Programming
Project Programming
6- Describe the code of your project. How did you program each function of the project?
6- Describe the code of your project. How did you program each function of the project?
Code is really simple but just a little long, 5 servo motors in totala are defined and all given a variable according to the position so 0 is base 1 is the first appearing servo at the bottom, 2 is the next and so on, and only for the last servo motor which is micro the code is set to make recieve 2 orders (opening and closing the gribber)
Project Integration & Testing
Project Integration & Testing
7- Demonstrate with text and visuals how did you integrate the project’s modules together? What are the testing results? (Include a Demo video separately, showing a proof of functionality)
7- Demonstrate with text and visuals how did you integrate the project’s modules together? What are the testing results? (Include a Demo video separately, showing a proof of functionality)
also integrating the project together is simple but takes a long time and need some patience
Every step is illustrated well in the photos above but I only had few 3mm screws so I mounted everything together using holes that are diagonal (except for the box which needed more t slots)
WhatsApp Video 2024-09-18 at 9.44.04 PM.mp4Sharing & Collaboration
Sharing & Collaboration
8- Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?
8- Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?
Many helped me with this project actually, Instructor Menna helped me A LOT with the design, Omnia notified me to a mistake I did while cutting the parts, Abdelrahman Oraby helped me alot with the 3d printed parts.
Overcoming Challenges
Overcoming Challenges
9- When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this project?
9- When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this project?
Many problems faced me through the process of building this arm since it is 15 cm a link.
first the rotating base was not stable due to the weight of the arm so I ducttaped some heavy nuts to a side of it to restore balance and used tie wraps as well.
also the servos needed to more torque to be able to move the links smoothly and with more control over the links than the weight.
Future Work
Future Work
10- If you had more time, what is one thing you would change/ Do next in your project?
10- If you had more time, what is one thing you would change/ Do next in your project?
Maybe if I had more time I could have add potentiometers on a 3d printed scaled version of this arm as a controller (and also if I had more filament because it actually needed almost 70 grams).
also I could have avoided the balancing problems and the torque failures.
robotic arms actually are used in many fields not just industrial one, so if I'm to design and build a robotic arm again maybe it will do other tasks.
Final Project Design Files
Final Project Design Files
Fusion files
DXF files
STL files
Code
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