This is my midterm project for Physical Computing. I made a simple robotic arm with a smiling face, and its digital twins! I name it Frankenstein I, which symbolizing a creature crafted by a bunch of wasted stuff.
Four pushbuttons control the arm’ position in Cartesian space, while a potentiometer to adjusts its moving speed. When the arm moves outside its workspace, the face turns sad, smiling again when it returns to a valid position. Meanwhile, P5.js will visualize the movements of its joints, which looks like its digital twins!
This project apply following things I learnt recently:
- Digital Input
- Analog Input
- Forward Kinematics
- Inverse Kinematics
For more information, please check out the following link:
- Open
server/frankenstein/frankenstein.inoby Arduino Nano 33 loT cd client && npm run dev
When designing this project, I had three objectives:
- Keep it as simple as possible
- Apply what I’ve learned so far
- Make it small but meaningful
This is why I used only basic components and assembled them with tap, without neatly wrapping the wires. But I’m glad that I incorporated digital input, analog input and inverse kinematics into real-world project. In the end, it is small but it is a robotic arm!
Some might feel sorry for Frankenstein I because it does not look good, but I’m pretty fine with it. It reminds me of Mark I—the first version of Iron Man’s suite. Though created from low-quality materials and looking rather shabby, it saved Iron Man’s life and marked a beginning of a legend!
Frankenstein I is my first tiny robotic arm. I hope it is a good starting point for my journey in Physical Computing and Robotics.