Sunday, October 31, 2010

Goofing Around


I tried to do a bit more advanced choreography, inspired by RUN-DMC & Jason Nevins, "It's like that"
 video. Anyway now I'm waiting for some more AX-12 engines I ordered, which I need to complete the hand module, and I found this clip on YouTube explaining a bit about electroactive polymers
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=ckwm_QiPo5A&feature=related

YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hc3D3QHY4Y&feature=related

Saturday, October 30, 2010

2 Fingers Movement



Well before continuing to a full hand model, I wanted to see if I can make some basic choreography between 2 fingers, and make them interact a bit.
Now you can really see here, just how big these fingers are going to come out. But it won't matter because it's the feedback from the engines that I'm counting on, and not how real the hand module will be.

YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpdWfI5mX2Q

Friday, October 29, 2010

Equipment testing

Well I bought 10 Dynamixel AX-12 servo engines,  to use as the finger's joints. Now it's a bit problematic due to the size of the engines, but they were the only one's that were in my price range.
Also they have a strong torque, and most importantly, they have a load voltage feedback, which i can use as pressure sensors, and get a feedback from every joint of every finger.
In this video, I'm trying out for the first time moving the engines by programming them using c++.
You can check out for information about the engines in
http://www.trossenrobotics.com/dynamixel-ax-12-robot-actuator.aspx

YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tme37v7LOIs

The Project

Hi everyone.
Well what I'm trying to do here, is to build a robotic hand, or a robotic palm to be more precise, built with servo engines. 
The hand will be operated by a glove, and will move according to the glove's movement, wore by the user.
But the main purpose of this project isn't the robotic hand, but the glove itself.
I want to be able to get a feedback from the robotic hand, back to the glove, and that way to feel with my own hand, what the robotic hand is feeling. So for instance if I put a ball in the palm of the robotic hand, I will get the illusion of holding the ball in my own hand.
The way I'm planning to do this is by using electroactive polymer, sewn into the glove.

Now I'm not sure yet exactly how I am going to this, because this project suffers from a lot of limitations, the most important one is money. Continuing with the lack of resources, tools, equipment or time to work on the project, being a student.
Nevertheless, slowly but surely, the project is progressing step by step, and hopefully the last post on this blog will be a video of me solving a Rubik's cube, without touching it.

So wish me luck, cause here we go...