How to Build a 3D Printed Robot Arm Tutorial (Arduino Based) - Part Two

This is Part Two of the detailed assembly tutorial for the Compact Robot Arm. Throughout these parts, you'll learn exactly how to assemble, wire, and send code to this robotic arm and controller! In this part, I will take you through the wiring of this arm/controller and we'll upload the code! If you haven't seen Part One, you'll need to watch that first (I've linked it below). In Part One we finished building the majority of the upper arm. I hope this tutorial is helpful to anyone trying to build it!
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Part One (Assembly Tutorial): • How to Build a 3D Prin...
3D Printer Used:
QIDI X-Plus 3 (so fast!): s.zbanx.com/r/...
Flash price: $649.00
Part Links:
Servos: amzn.to/45xkgPH
20KG Servo: amzn.to/43sGe4c
Micro Servo: amzn.to/3N3g3fj
Arduino Board: amzn.to/3qfOmHg
Servo Driver Board: amzn.to/3spBGz1
Potentiometers: amzn.to/3QujXy4
Filament: amzn.to/3WNHGfx
Gripper Gears: amzn.to/42eLIyz
Screws Larger Set: amzn.to/3C47ASK
Screws Small Set: amzn.to/44GC2ih
Wire and Connectors: amzn.to/3qiVMth
T-Plugs: amzn.to/47df3g6
Adjustable Power Supply: amzn.to/46e27Xa
Wire/Shrink Wrap: amzn.to/3G3DEYU
Rubber Band: amzn.to/3so2O1n
LED: amzn.to/3FZen1U
Clear Acrylic: amzn.to/3FYc6nO
Gripper Foam Pad: amzn.to/3SCE8wA
Power Switch: amzn.to/3und1LK
Controller Push Button: amzn.to/3ufX1vh
STL Files/Code/Wiring Diagram: www.printables...
Thanks, and best of luck!
The product links provided are Amazon affiliate links and I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, which helps support the channel without any additional cost to you.
Tags:
#3dprinting #robot #robotics #inventions #arduino #tutorial #howto #diy

[@Mousoukyou]

I program UR Robots at work and I have to say that your controller concept is genius. Having a scaled model that you can actively move makes so much sense. Yes, Freedrive mode is helpful, but it's so awesome to be able to move it in real time like that while also being out of the way. Really awesome project, I'd really like to build it soon.

[@merrittmoore]

Interesting that you work with UR robots. I've got some questions if you'd like to connect.

[@grahamnichols1416]

This is a really nice project, and I am in the process of building it. There are many such projects on KZbin, but I've yet to see anyone who has then used the arm for a revenue-generating practical purpose.

[@jacklap5372]

Just finished building this and the only major improvement I could suggest would be to make all the clamshell pieces have locating features (pins and holes, tung and groove, etc) to make the pieces fit and stay together better.

[@buildsomestuff]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing!

[@gamingscorpionindia1995]

did you set the potentiometer to any particular position before attaching to body?

[@beanboy6842]

Idk what i did, but nothing but the LED on the arduino works. It's definitely something with the wiring i did, which is just barely holding together, but everything is pluged into the correct stuff (i think)

[@devonlapierre7289]

im in the same boat have rewired everything and cant get the code to do anything

[@Svenboiii]

I've been speaking with the electronics engineers at my work and it looks like for standard two-prongled LEDs, you need a resistor in series with the wiring, otherwise the LED either will pop or, after a short period of time, die out (which mine did). I've added a resistor and it looks like the LED is back on.

[@jstro-hobbytech]

Awesome project brother. Qidi on the other hand are a different story. They offered to donate a used printer to me last year as i lost mine in a hurricane. I was starting a channel to do video lessons for the local makerspace and they lead me on for over 3 months. Then one day said no. I asked them for a discount as i had donated thousands of dollars worth of arduinos and such to the makerspace . I have severe social anxiety due to ptsd from being a first responder, i have a software engineering degree i never used and found that getting back into coding and building stuff helped me so i wanted to help others and help myself at the same time as I've barely left the house in a decade and figured it would help me get over the anxiety. They crushed me and i gave up on the whole thing, they could've said no or just give me a discount or not have lead me on for so long. I was looking for a good printer and had enough to buy a crappy one or a decent xmax (i was 200 short of the retail price) and i wanted to buy proper recording gear. I ending up being soured on 3d printing for 6 months and bought a new guitar and oscilloscope instead and donated the rest. I send arduino learning kits anywhere in Canada or the US for free. I include a decent multimeter, soldering station, aalong wirh a ton of other stuff. All i ask is that the person be genuine with not having the means to get it themselves and if they dont like the hobby to let me pay postage for the dmm and soldering station as i spend over 200 on those two items alone. Ill help people if they want to learn but there are no strings attached. Seeing them sponsor people triggers me hard because of the dishonesty. Every video wouldve mentioned them and i was just looking for a discount. I respect the fact if someone said no as well. I havent solicited any companies for charity since. I spend half my disposable income on helping others. Enabling others is a better way to look at it as i dont even need to know the person's name. Being a good, honest person is no better than being a criminal these days. Being honest is more important and saying what you're thinking (while treating others in a way youd like to be treated) seems to stop the most outspoken person in their tracks if it means they have to say no to something when asked. I could see if it was in person and i put them on the spot. Qidi sent a friend their most expensive printer and he gave it a 2 minute review and threw it away. (It was too expensive to ship as i was going to buy it). Theyd rather that then to be known as caring about the community, even the ones who keep us safe at night and now suffer from illnesses that will never go away. Another creator friend threw their printer out a 2 story window in a short after an interview. He was moving and lived too far away to ship it as well. I hope they read this. Im disappointed more than anything. I still plan to purchase a printer off them as well. But anonymously with my wife's Amazon account. If you know anyone who wants to get into the hobby or would like a robot arm kit like the awesome one you shared, just email me. I have all the parts. It can go through you if you want. Ill laser engrave the acrylic too and add leds to the kit haha. Thanks for the content.

[@SanjayKoripelli]

Can you please make a mini tutorial for the controller, so that I know I am doing everything right.

[@Tech.Explorer.X]

if you do find one can you put the link under this comment, please and thank you.

[@CheeseWithMold]

Looks really good! Can't wait to get the parts and build this.

[@vivekgupta-cl3jz]

nice work👍

[@PhG1961]

Awesome build and tutorial! Well done! I'm looking forward to see the next project!

[@MarceloStoppa]

It's amazing!!! Congrats!!! Beautiful and useful project!! I'll use with my postgraduate students!!!

[@basurissimo6143]

Love Beastiarum! Even better to see the models painted and played with!

[@ronsone8373]

printing as we speak looking forward to build this project

[@rushabhmiyani5242]

Awesome Video Man. Thank you so much for making such a detailed video. Go Engineerrs Baby !!!!

[@user-nj2rl7xf8g]

amazing cant wait to build it !!! 😛

[@planckstudios]

Your tutorials are easy to follow and the quality of the movement is great! congrats on doing this w/ only a single arduino file ha! outstanding intro for any makers w/out a ton of programming experience. i2c w/ the PCA9685 is great and scalable. I'm curious if you have any upgrade vids planned. I don't see signs of filtering the servo data in adafruit's default driver code - I imagine that could be a great technique for folks too. I'd also consider capacitors and sharing the STEP files? Eliminating glue and adding inset hex nuts to the main parts would make this extremely serviceable

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! Thanks! Unfortunately, this is most likely the last video I will publish for this robot arm. Great ideas regarding the upgrades, though! If you'd like to experiment with the design a bit, here is the link to the old designs and Fusion 360 files: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1x4P8AquQILwCp8e5CiRJLfVJiJn2U4cF?usp=sharing

[@planckstudios]

@@buildsomestuff Thanks for the reply! Stoked to see what you make next. Is there any chance you could add STEP or IGES files to that gDrive folder? It'd be easier to mod w/ those in addition to the fusion360 files

[@buildsomestuff]

@@planckstudios Certainly! I have now added STEP files for both the new arm and new controller designs to the Google Drive folder!

[@planckstudios]

@@buildsomestuff so cool! Thank you!

[@buildsomestuff]

@@planckstudios No problem!

[@themtbcrew4029]

It still doesn't work, if I only plug in the Power the driver doesn't turn on, but I've tested it with an LED an there is power, but the driver doesn't turn on. But if I plug in the Arduino the driver turns on but the voltage is missing an the servos do nothing. Could anyone help me 😢

[@bradleywood-i2x]

Really cool project nearly finished mine myself, one of my servos going the opposite was to the potentiometer controller and just figuring out how to fix, any ideas would be amazing thx

[@buildsomestuff]

@@bradleywood-i2x Swapping the two outer-most wires on the corresponding potentiometer should do the trick!

[@andresroc1567]

Great job!! Awesome build for a simple robot. The tutorial was great too. Thanks!

[@mohandamrouche7470]

My guys doesn't care about KZbin Meta , uplodings each week to boost your channel and hype people about projet ...; nahh he 'aint got time for that , he got to Build Some Stuff 😄

[@PiefacePete46]

Just excellent!... Thanks. Liked... already Subscribed.

[@tewanderer]

Me and a couple friends managed to assemble this whole thing for a school project, however we're running into an issue where when we upload the code, none of the other servos move as the potentiometer does. We tested all of the potentiometers' connection without plugging into the servo driver and it reads, but as soon as we hook everything up to the driver only the microcontroller for the gripper functions properly. Some help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for the great tutorial!

[@MrLasox]

Could you be fixing that you could be programming the moves? So it actually memorise the moves? And you could just lean back meanwhile the robot are doing the preprogrammed things? For example adding some more buttons. Button one: You are moving the arm direction Z, X, Y When you are not pushing the button anymore, it stops. But you could also be pushing second button for the gripper and memorise that too?

[@AlexClements-yy1up]

Thank you so much for this video! I've learned so much and you are amazing for keeping this open source. I'm super new to electronics so I ran into an issue with the micro servo for the gripper. When I press the button the servo doesn't move. It will move the 90 degrees to close at the beginning (line 28 of the code) but won't move beyond that. When I switched it out with a regular servo (MG996R) everything ran fine and the button opened/closed the gripper. Plus the pin 13 test light turns on/off when the button is pressed, so I'm confused. Wiring isn't the issue either since when I connect the micro servo to the pins controlled by a potentiometer, the micro servo runs perfectly. I've tried to troubleshoot: I've assigned the micro servo to different pins on the driver board, re-copied the code over, and, checked the voltage with a multimeter (it was within the correct range for the servo), but I'm still sort of stuck. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[@billmckillip1561]

nicely done

[@najeebyounossi]

Hi @build Some Stuff. Nice projects and thanks for sharing. One quick question, why is the wrist potentiometer wired differently? Based on the video (5:14) the positive and ground wires are swapped compared to other potentiometers. This is different from the schematic. Would appreciate your help on this. thanks.

[@buildsomestuff]

Thanks! Sorry for the confusion: I made the controller a little while back, so, unfortunately, I can't remember exactly why I did this. I believe that when I was testing the controller with the servos, the last servo was rotating in the opposite direction and was not correctly mapping the potentiometer. I am not exactly sure why it would have done this. By swapping the 5V and GND wires on the potentiometer, one can essentially reverse the direction of the servo rotation in relation to the controls. However, it may have just been a mistake that I compensated for later in the code. I would suggest trying the way they are shown in the schematic first. Then, if the wrist servo moves in reverse, you can swap the two wires. Hope this helps!

[@najeebyounossi]

Thanks a lot. You are right the wires need to be swapped as the wrist turns in the opposite direction

[@wiwibaguette6683]

Hey creator, it’ll be a awesome idea if u made a 6+ axis robot, I might improve on this design as well

[@AirspaceSlayers]

Can you make a tutorial on how to model this beast?

[@Tech.Explorer.X]

hello I have been trying to build this robot but for 1-2 weeks but yet still can't find out why my servo motors don't move when I am ready to put it in the starter position I did unscrew all the parts like in the video and also screw them back on like 10 times just to find out the reason on why it won't work I am thinking it is because of the wire's they are probably miss placed on my end from either the control or from the boards can anyone help me out here I would really apricate it thank you.🙂

[@paulharvey6719]

nice moves!

[@KevinCentracchio]

the servo boards in your amazon list aren't the same in the video

[@stefanoguitarplayer]

BRAVISSIMO 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@whatisrokosbasilisk80]

If you have a gaming laptop - would be very interested to see if you could replicate Mobile Aloha style training.

[@spetaragazzo]

Congrat! awesome project, I will do it, question: why one of the servos is hi torque 20kg? can i use only Mg 996R? and at the time to upload code from arduino, how must to be the potenciometers? what position? you showed the position of mini arm controler, and said in started position, but we can't see the position of the potenciometers. Thanx so much!

[@ShivMFG]

so your diagram is ground to ground on the pots, but it looks like on your mini arm, your ground wrist goes to vcc on the elbow? am i missing something, cause it looks like your diagram doesnt match the physical robot.

[@SAG-studio]

for some weird reason, all potentiometers are connected to the wrong servos and the servos are shaking because 1 the power is to high or too low or 2 the pedometers are stupid, and I will have to replace the small arm and re-wire. you should have added a resistor to the LED in the tutorial because mine brunt out 2 times. does anybody have any suggestions about how to make the servos stop shaking.

[@2manyinterests2count]

Beautiful work.. from an 'old' maker to a 'new' one! The only thing I would add, use silicone grease on all gears and moving 'sliding' components. I was planning on making a third hand for my bench like this. I may use your arm. Currently, I have a modified Inmoov arm helping out but while it looks cool, this is much more practical. Thank you for sharing this! subscription well earned! I am curious, what made you blow 3 servos? programming over limit or load issue?

[@stowjer]

I've built the project. sadly its not working as expected currently. only the base servo and the shoulder servo and hand servo are moving in response to the controller. however the movements are a bit erratic, some movement mimics the movement of controller but then the servo will move the other way and sometimes the servo is sort of twitching even when the controller is perfectly still I have tested continuity for all the wires coming from the pots right to the arduino so ruling out any failed connections. Also the hand servo is constantly in motion until i press the button and it stops until i release again. i'm assuming i've wired this the wrong way round. i worked around this by changing the code to if(pushbutton == HIGH) instead of LOW Has anyone else had similar issues? I'm new to wiring and electronics so any help would be appreciated. Is there any program i could use on my arduino to see if my arduino is picking up the changing values of my potentiometer signal. Many thanks

[@INNOVATION-cd3sj]

you are the best

[@willdraper884]

when i plugged it in the power supply started smoking, any idea what the issue would most likely be ?

[@themtbcrew4029]

I have a question, im so down because my Arm doesn't work. To what Voltage do I have to set the Adjustable Power Supply?

[@buildsomestuff]

@@themtbcrew4029 Sorry to hear that, the arm should be set to 7V.

[@themtbcrew4029]

Thank you sooo much, I also found one soldering flaw by me. I hope this was the Problem, I will give an update and thanks for the quick reply.

[@xcashvin]

Mine doesn't work too idk whats the problem when I power it servo start moving randomly​@@themtbcrew4029

[@nophirharrell9946]

Great project man. I have a question about the male T plug connector. what is that connector connected too, power wise?(battery, outlet, laptop supply, stand alone power supply). Thanks again for the concise videos.

[@rickymitchell8981]

do you think you can build a car with robot arms on the sides?

[@solomon8273]

how big could i scale this to . I know loaded question but I have decent mechanical knowledge and I can fix simple issues. Any tips if i wanna make a very large one. Thanks.

[@stowjer]

I notice that when wiring the pots on the controller you wire the left hand pin on the 'wrist' pot to the right hand pin on the 'elbow' pot. and I notice that the elbow to shoulder pots are wired left pin to left pin and right pin to right pin. Is there a reason for the inversion of the wrist to elbow wiring? I am pretty new to wiring, just want to make sure i do it right. Thanks again for tutorial!

[@buildsomestuff]

@@stowjer I made the controller a little while back, so, unfortunately, I can't remember exactly why I did this. I believe that when I was testing the controller with the servos, the last servo was rotating in the opposite direction and was not correctly mapping the potentiometer. I am not exactly sure why it would have done this. By swapping the 5V and GND wires on the potentiometer, one can essentially reverse the direction of the servo rotation in relation to the controls. If you do experience a mirrored output on the last segment, swapping the wires mentioned above should do the trick.

[@stowjer]

@@buildsomestuff Ok. Many thanks for your quick reply! I've been spending the afternoon getting to grips with the wiring! going great so far! cheers from London 👍

[@roscoe3dp470]

Great project, how come the ground and 5v on the top potentiometer are wired opposite to the other 4 ?

[@buildsomestuff]

Thanks! I made the controller a little while back, so, unfortunately, I can't remember exactly why I did this. I believe that when I was testing the controller with the servos, the last servo was rotating in the opposite direction and was not correctly mapping the potentiometer. I am not exactly sure why it would have done this. By swapping the 5V and GND wires on the potentiometer, one can essentially reverse the direction of the servo rotation in relation to the controls. However, it may have just been a mistake that I compensated for later in the code.

[@Crazyshizz007]

@@buildsomestuff does that mean if i'm following this guide i should switch the wiring also? or is the code corrected?

[@buildsomestuff]

I believe all should be correct now. However, if you do experience a mirrored output on the last segment, swapping the wires mentioned above should do the trick.

[@nickvorwald1478]

I’m doing a similar project like this(I’m a beginner) but I have learned a solid foundation during the first semester of school. What exactly do micro controllers help with. I’ve seen tutorials using potentiometers without microcontrollers but when I try, the servos will work for short periods of time until they start stuttering, moving on their own, or not moving at all. Any ideas if a micro controller could help this or even something else?

[@shauryasharma7208]

I’m just a fellow 8th grader who was successfully able to make this project! I just have one query, what should we do if the servo motors just break? Could anyone help? Thank you!

[@gamingscorpionindia1995]

question, did you move the potentiometer to any particular position before attaching to the body?

[@wpb.andres5335]

Hey, is the code that is shown in the video all the code you need? Or is there more to it? I’m sorta new to coding and I’m struggling to figure out if there is more to it or not

[@mr.q1880]

@@gamingscorpionindia1995 I'm having the same problem as you, did you solve it?

[@stowjer]

how many volts/amps should be supplying through the t plug? many thanks

[@buildsomestuff]

@@stowjer 7V, the arm draws roughly 3A, but I’d allow for 5A to be safe.

[@stowjer]

@@buildsomestuff nice one, thank you! the moment of truth is getting near! Learned so much doing this!

[@MonkeyNeuronActivation]

Is it safe to share ground pin of servo driver board and Arduino board? Could there be potential ground loop? (I don't know much about circuit designs)

[@EugeneKrevenets]

Thank you for sharing this video, It looks great. Could you tell which weight it can lift?

[@Tara_Vasudevan]

Hi so i am a student and i am doing a project where i am using brain waves to try and control a robot arm i dont really know what i am doing but i know that the brain waves can be used to control Arduino robots would there be a way for me to connect it to this build?

[@Minicodez]

Hello i like your videos so much. Can you please share the 3d robot Design because i am so fascinate of this Model. I also want to make a Robot like this but i dint have any 3d Design.

[@krapfen170]

learn english

[@shawngurley1957]

First of all, download the 3d model in the description? Second of all, if this is not what you are asking, please try and use better grammar.

[@alex59292]

Do you have like a list of bom for all nuts and bolts used?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! Unfortunately, I don't have a written BOM. However, all parts are shown in the two Assembly Tutorials.

[@kaanuzaslan]

Hello very well made design. I have only one question about power supply so I read 7V power supply enough but what current works well. I have two options 5A and 10A? thanks in advance

[@buildsomestuff]

Thanks! Either should work fine, as this arm only draws around 3 Amps.

[@shawngurley1957]

I’m at the step where you have to put the button into the controller. But it seems my button has… well… prongs on the back? I can’t fit it in there, as you don’t show it in the video. The prongs make it impossible to fit in there. Do I have the wrong button? Do I bend the prongs? Does the button need a depression? Please tell me, me and my friend are so confused. 5:07 Sorry if Im being stupid, but we are new to this. We don't really have any background knowledge of electronics.

[@Kartik-xn1tw]

hey bro i am from india & your video and explanation is very very excellent and How do I contact you?

[@mihaichici]

Can i use the same 20 kg servo that you use at the base for all the other servos(i didn't pay attention at the start and bought 4 of the 20kg servos in the description😂)? i have yet to complete the build but i am afraid that i may have to change the code and i don't know anything about programming. Also i love your videos.

[@buildsomestuff]

Thanks! 20kg servos in all joints should work fine without any code changes!

[@GergoBodnar-kt8bv]

Great video! I only have one question, how many Volts and Amps do i need to use it? Have a nice day!

[@user-ty8qy9mb8u]

Bro in upcoming days can make a record and play function for this robotics arm

[@jonatasdias1339]

You use two power supplies. One for the Arduino and one for the servo controller, right? What would be their voltage and amps? Can anyone help me with this question?

[@gamingscorpionindia1995]

Ok so i built it but a bit of issue. My servo keeps spinning instead of stopping at a position of the potentiometer. Any help?

[@gamingscorpionindia1995]

This is only happening with my mg 996 servos. All 3 of them keeps spinning at forward or reverse direction, Just noticed these are 360° servo. I am so dumb. Anyway to fix it or i am just gonna have to open it up and start again?

[@juancarlosticonaquispe271]

El primer problema que tube al armarlo es la sensibilidad de los potenciómetros los cuales se me arruinaron demaciado rápido y los tenia que cambiar muchas veces, algo recomendable para esto?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! I'm not exactly sure what this issue would be, but it may be caused by your potentiometers' resistance rating. I'm using 10k pots for the controller. I've linked my exact potentiometers in the description.

[@kemal3967]

hello i have been wanting to make a robotic arm but i always find it so complicating thankfully this video has been very helpful but i have no idea how he assembled the controller can someone pls share the diagram or like explain it to me

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! I briefly explain the controller's wiring and assembly at the time stamp 4:45 in this video, and I have also linked a detailed wiring diagram of the arm and controller in the description. The controller's wiring can be found on the right hand side of the wiring diagram. Hope this helps!

[@kemal3967]

Hi again i am sorry but i couldn't find the diagram or the controller i looked at thingyverse and it's not there (i can't find it) so may you please share the link in the comments@@buildsomestuff

[@buildsomestuff]

@@kemal3967 The wiring diagram should be the second image to show up on the Thingiverse page here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:6313449 Let me know if you don’t see it there!

[@RetroX_]

can i do this but without 3d printing? i could make it out of cardboard and spray paint it but the design needs to be changed

[@James-uw6ym]

Im new to 3D printing and this is amazing! How did you manage to screw your 3d parts in? Did you just brute force them through the holes?

[@Crazyshizz007]

I finally got it all hooked up but i'm having an issue with the gripper.. when i push the button it will open up but when i release it it just stays open forever, any idea what could be wrong? in the serial log it prints released and pressed correctly but it just doesn't move the servo

[@buildsomestuff]

That's strange.🤔 I would double check the switch and servo wiring in relation to the Arduino. You may also want to redownload the code incase any lines were changed accidentally. Hope this helps!

[@jzeef]

the micro servo cant overcome the strength of the rubber band apparently (bought the ones in the recommendations list). It can push the hands apart just fine without it there, but gets stuck and whines when the rubber band is on

[@mr.q1880]

I'm having the same problem as you, did you solve it?

[@joboprecise1103]

how are the 3 gears connected in the wrist? i have glued one gear to the gripper part but the gear doesnt potrude far enough through the side plate to mesh with the other gears if that makes sense. in part 1 that seems to be the case for you but in part 2 its no longer an issue

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! So that I can visualize the problem, what time stamp in part one does this issue appear?

[@joboprecise1103]

@@buildsomestuff it is at 7:30. where the 3 gears mesh together. the one gear that is glued to the hand /gripper isn't tall enough to reach the center gear or the servo gear. thanks for your response

[@buildsomestuff]

@@joboprecise1103I don’t seem to see the issue in Part 1 or Part 2 at 7:30, but, if you have three small washers under the middle gear, removing one of these washers or adding washers under the gripper gear to push it out may do the trick. Hope this helps!

[@mogort2001]

Hello, I'm from Spain and I find all your videos very interesting. I have a 3D printer and some Ardyino parts to be able to assemble it, but I don't know how to program it. Is there a way to copy your program?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! Yep! You can find the code on the Thingiverse page linked in the description.

[@paulkoch7668]

if one were to want to record positions off of the controller to create a program and run it, what would need to be added to this design?

[@mrjojo78k6]

Can someone tell me with what he powers the robot? I have his power source but when I turned the first time, it started smoking. And we all know that electronics run with smoke and if it comes out it's not a good thing

[@justanotaku7448]

How many volts does the hand use , what battery do you raccomend ?

[@justanotaku7448]

I would like to know a little bit in depth to how to supply it , I dont want to break something

[@davidramos5006]

Is it posible to change positions to do a routine?

[@buildsomestuff]

I haven’t experimented with routines much, but it has been done before. I believe it requires some sort of storage device (such as a Raspberry Pi) to store all of the positions. You could probably find some helpful videos covering the topic in depth here on KZbin.

[@hannesfuhringer5423]

What do you think? Any odea how to add a bluetooth tx to get it wireless?

[@adityach7]

ESP32 should do the trick

[@N0edL]

what awg wire did you use ?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! 28 AWG wire here!

[@pdog9598]

Hi, I was wondering how you connected the male T plug to the power supply. Did you just directly solder it to the power supply wires?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! I used an adjustable power supply in this video with terminal connectors. However, the T-Plug can certainly be soldered directly to the 7V power supply.

[@pdog9598]

Ah I see. So you directly screwed the T plug wires into the terminal connector of the adjustable power supply. Thank you for the clarification.

[@buildsomestuff]

@@pdog9598 Yep! No problem!

[@TomMartin-nl6om]

One more thing, how could I make the controller have motors instead, and have a claw instead of a button, any idea on how I could do that?

[@buildsomestuff]

I’m not exactly sure about the motor question. Adding a claw to make the controller more closely resemble the arm would definitely be possible, but would require some redesign to the last segment.

[@gamingscorpionindia1995]

question, do i have to have potentiometer at a particular position when attaching to the controller body?

[@wpb.andres5335]

Hey, I have a question. Is the code that is shown on video the only code you need? Or is there more to it?

[@wpb.andres5335]

Also, since the servo motors automatically correspond to the pots, I don’t think you’d have to.

[@TimLukeAnderson]

how many collective hours of printing is the robot arm and mini robot arm?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! The print time can vary quite a bit depending on your 3D Printer. With the QIDI X-Plus3 shown in this video, the print time was only around 6 hours for all of the parts. However, with a standard printer this time may be closer to 15-20 hours.

[@TimLukeAnderson]

thanks for the speedy reply i have been looking around for cheap beginner robotic arm projects and yours is by far the most affordable for entry level participants. @@buildsomestuff

[@buildsomestuff]

@@TimLukeAnderson Awesome! No problem!

[@SohumSawant]

can I use micro servo motors for the wrist and hand instead of the normal ones

[@crab-king1575]

pls everyone I need help. why is it that it costs over 160$ when I look them up on amazon.

[@TheHQpower]

In theory can you record movements of the small arm. save the movements and later with arduino recreate the movements with big arm? (Sorry I have zero experience with this kind of stuff) BTW nice job (Y)

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! That’d be awesome! I believe there is a way to do this. However, it may require the use of a Raspberry Pi board to save the positions to. I’ll have to look into it further!

[@HairyDalek]

@@buildsomestuff I’m looking at this from a different angle. The controller part *could* be used to input movement into 3D software like Blender, so you could control (or capture movement for) a digital puppet and apply the movement to a bone rig.

[@buildsomestuff]

@@HairyDalek Great idea! That would be really neat!

[@PiefacePete46]

@TheHQpower : The video below might be of interest... I fell in love with this very basic project many years ago, but I never did get round to making one. The "Robot" couldn't be simpler, and it has one less axis, but the code is in place to record and replay steps. Like you, I think that adding record and playback to Kelton's robot arm would create another level of interest to it. I'm not sure if adding another axis would take it beyond the scope of an Arduino UNO, but substituting an Arduino Mega would get around that problem. Video link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH3Rcn1jorh4oqcsi=KURD_JX1XzYR1HSb

[@ThingsMadeOfOtherThings]

This! I want to teach mine to chop vegetables and make an omelette :)

[@Crazyshizz007]

how do you attach the button on the controller? just glue it ?

[@buildsomestuff]

I believe mine was press fit. However, if it's too loose, it can certainly be glued down.

[@indianhackersushanth8940]

Bro make it wireless please in next video

[@androofroo]

Great video, and beautiful robot! But I'm curious ... why you are using the library from Adafruit? Why not do something more straightforward with built-in Arduino functions (such as using map() to connect the inputs to the outputs)?

[@buildsomestuff]

Thanks! It wasn’t visible in the video, but I do make use of the map() function later down in the code. However, I believe I needed to include some sort of library capable of communicating with the Adafruit PCA9685 Servo Driver Module to control the PWM of the servo motors. If I only used the map function without including a library for the PCA9685, I’m not sure I would be able to correctly control the servos.

[@androofroo]

@@buildsomestuff Thanks for clarifying. Have you ever tried driving servos directly off the pwm pins on the Arduino board?

[@buildsomestuff]

No problem! Yah, I’ve run servos directly from the Arduino before. While it is less complicated, it can become impractical when controlling more than just a couple servos. Since I need to power 5 servo motors for this arm, it would draw too much current through the Arduino’s 5V pin and possibly fry the board altogether. The PCA9685 Module supplies power directly from an external power supply to prevent this from happening, which allows me to control up to 16 servos without worrying about burning up the micro controller.

[@androofroo]

@@buildsomestuff Too true. Power is always the hard check on reality. Thanks for the reply

[@buildsomestuff]

@@androofroo No problem! :)

[@bennym2561]

How much power is needed from the power supply?

[@Lewy005]

how did you learn this stuff

[@hannesfuhringer5423]

Hi! I ha e build the robot same way you did. I have a problem with power distribution. If I power the robot over the servo board, nothing is working. No lights no movement. If I power it over the arduino, lights are up, but still no movement. Wiring is correct and solid. I use a 9v power source .any ideas?

[@laurenz7377]

Nice project. Can I also use an arduino Nano instead of an Arduino Uno?

[@bluandjewelderio3927]

Can someone tell me or pass me the code for the arm please

[@mohammadsulaiman6369]

is there a way to make the controller wirless?

[@SirRobinII]

will the servo's get hot?

[@Svenboiii]

Heya, I'm in the final throws of the project and I've hit a brick wall of an issue and I was wondering if there's any advice available. I've wired everything up as shown and downloaded the code to the arduino. I've powered it up with a external PSU but all the servos (appart from the gripper servo) seemingly are fluctuating about 5-10 degrees before cylcing back. I'm guessing there's electrical noise somewhere in the setup somewhere, but I'm unsure where to look! Any ideas :)

[@mr.q1880]

I'm having the same problem as you, did you solve it?

[@Svenboiii]

@@mr.q1880 (bear in mind that I’m learning as I went along here) from memory, I think the scaled down version of the arm with the potentiometers in the pivot points were causing me the issues in addition the servo control module. In the end, I think I used a bog standard breadboard and linked new potentiometers straight into the analog inputs of the Arduino. From there, the robot was a lot more responsive (although I found a lot of the cables inside the arm were getting heavily strained inside the body) Hope this helps mate, and good luck

[@mr.q1880]

@@Svenboiii I'm very sorry if I'm disturbing your class because it's 11pm in Asia. I printed the 3D files and started working on this project. Finally, can you please provide more details about the 3 gears used, like diameter size, number of teeth and hole size because with 58 gears I don't know which one to use? - What 4 types of servo motors are there (180 degrees or 270 degrees or 360 degrees)? Thanks a lot.

[@obadaobaid]

How much it may cost at least for all those things i need?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hello! While the material cost is relatively low at around $60. The total cost to purchase everything upfront is much higher at around $200. However, this is assuming that you have none of the suggested parts and would need to purchase everything. And, most of the purchases included in this total have more parts than what is required for this project. For example, the linked micro servo pack comes with 4 servos, but only one is needed. Hope this helps!

[@cuan_piano]

can you use 12 or 5 volts

[@buildsomestuff]

5 Volts should work! The PCA9685 Module is rated for 5 to 10 volts.

[@cuan_piano]

@@buildsomestuff The potentiomters don't snap on to the 3d printed parts any idea how I could fix this thanks

[@fleckditchburn2494]

did you desgin all of this robot by yourself?

[@buildsomestuff]

Yep! All in Fusion 360.

[@fleckditchburn2494]

@@buildsomestuff I s there anyway I could contact you privately? I am a retired Electrical engineer age 75.

[@buildsomestuff]

@@fleckditchburn2494 Certainly! You may use the Business email found in the Build Some Stuff About Page.

[@wpb.andres5335]

Hey, I have a question. Is the code that is shown on video the only code you need? Or is there more to it?

[@user-cz1xr8ox7j]

Do you use two power supplies? one for the servo controller and one for the Arduino, right? What is their voltage and amps? Can anyone help with this doubt?

[@bennym2561]

I have the same question. My son built it, and it doesn't move. I suspect it's a power distribution/supply problem. The arduino requires 5v and the servos require more.

[@matthewhenley5610]

Hello, I made this and I’m getting shaking from my servos they are the 20kg ones the strong ones. I’m using a variable desktop power supply which should have plenty of power. Any thought on what’s causing this?

[@buildsomestuff]

Hmm. That’s strange. The first thing I’d do is double check the wiring. If everything is correct, it may be that the 20 kg servos are drawing too much current from the servo driver board. If you are still experiencing jitter, I’d recommend checking how much current the servos are drawing when they all move at the same time, and how much your power supply is capable of producing. If the current drawn from the servos is higher than what your power supply is capable of producing, you may want to consider upgrading the power supply or replacing 3 of the 20 kg servos with the cheaper 12 kg servos as shown in the video. Hope this helps!

[@Paul-rs4gd]

Sometimes adding a little friction at the joints can stop jitter.

[@yousef.a.z.b7931]

Thanks for this tutorial.. I have got one problem..the MG996R servo doesn’t stop after move the Controller and keeps rotating in the some direction of the potentiometer..? But the servos stops after return the controller to start position! I tried to change the code and control each servo separately but the same problem..However,the Micro servo motor works just fine and follows the potentiometer.. Can you help please.. With All Thanks 🙏🏻

[@mr.q1880]

I'm having the same problem as you, did you solve it?