A 3D Printed Robot Arm Controller Using cheapest components possible: Arduino Uno, 6 servos ( 1 XL, 3 M, 2 SM), and 16 Ch PWM, based on : https://thangs.com/designer/HowToMechatronics/3d-model/Robotic%20Arm%203D%20Model-38899
Uno (current rev3) any version should work
- with library from Arduino import manager labeled "Adafruit PMW Servo Driver" I think this
1 of HiLetgo 2pcs PCA9685 16 Channel 12-Bit PWM Servo Motor Driver IIC Module for Arduino Robot
or other Adafruit 16-channel-pwm-servo-driver
2 x maybe this one? Hitec RCD 31422S HS-422 Deluxe Servo from Local hobby store
1 x for shoulder need heavy duty: Hitec hs-805mg
*image shown not in repo, provided by "thangs" model page link above. Settings lets you set your own.
After struggling with 3D printing for over 13 years, I printed out this a while back (sometime after 2022) but was disappointed in the control software I was using. I recently tried to use ChatGPT to see if it could complete the simplified code I no longer have faster than I did. It wasn't faster, but the libraries were far more terse and I wasn't wasting time on language selection.
Biggest improvement since last shot. Gen AI and ChatGPT
Things that improved:
- Ardunino is amazing!!!
- Adafruit libs given in GPT example were much more concise
- Refactoring to more modular code was the largest cost but was forced to reduce code drops and drifting. Large text prompts struggle being a few hundred lines.
- less invested in code. I'm ADHD and code obsessed. releasing imperfect code is terrifying, this is less so
/six-dof-arduino-arm
|-- app.py
|-- pwm_control_panel.py
|-- servo_slider.py
|-- arduino_manager.py
|-- servo_manager.py
|-- settings.py
|-- dialog.py
|-- images/
| |-- arm_diagram.png
| |-- servo_0.png
| |-- servo_1.png
| ... (and so on for each servo image)
|-- settings.pkl (or some other settings storage file)https://github.com/JENkt4k/six-dof-arduino-arm.git
Here's a breakdown of what each file and directory is used for:
- app.py: This is the entry point of your application. It initializes and runs the main application window and ties all the components together.
- pwm_control_panel.py: Contains the PWMControlPanel class responsible for creating and managing the set of servo sliders and their associated images.
- servo_slider.py: Contains the ServoSlider compound widget class which includes a slider, a label, and an entry widget for each servo. arduino_manager.py: Manages the communication with the Arduino, including sending commands and connecting/disconnecting. servo_manager.py: Handles the logic for updating servo positions, including debouncing and maintaining the state. settings.py: Manages loading and saving user settings (e.g., number of servos, image paths). dialog.py: Contains the SettingsDialog class that creates and manages the settings dialog window. images/: A directory containing all the images used by the application, such as diagrams for each servo or a single arm diagram. settings.pkl: A file where user settings are persisted between sessions. This might be a pickle file or another format like JSON or INI. This structure keeps each component of the application isolated and focused on a single responsibility, which is beneficial for maintenance and scalability. It also makes it easy to locate files related to specific parts of the application.