how the fingers work

the fingers are moved using wires and tension.

each finger is looped through with a wire/string/line in a top-bottom fashion.

when the top wire is loosened/bottom wire is tightened, the finger curls in its joints, resulting in a "bent finger".

you don't have precise control of each joint movement, but it is simple enough to be controlled by a single actuator (in this case a servo).

here is me just using my own hands as an actuator:

here it is hooked up to as servo and controlled by a potentiometer:

the movement is not smooth because
1) it's controlled by a potentiometer that I am controlling, as seen in the background, and I was unable to move it all the way with one smooth finer motion.
2) the tension in the line was not entirely tight. I need to learn how to tie these well.

now I have a get a bunch of servos.

much credit and thanks to Inmoov once again.

Comments

playing with servos

some servos that I had ordered were delivered. the instructions suggested another brand/model of servos, but these were a much more economical (cheap). I tried adding them to the hand: I'll have to print the "pulley" pieces that will be attached to the servos. meanwhile, I did somewhat (hackily) got the wrist to work, for now: you keep hearing the "usb plugged out" sound in the background, and that's because the servo was being powered by the arduino. the servo's power draw appears to be causing a shutdown of the device. will need a better power source for the servos. it feels like these pieces that are supposed to be plugged into the servo will have size issues.

dabbling with android

I've been wanting to dabble with Android development recently, and yesterday I realized that there is a Socket.IO client API available for Java/Android. The API is pretty straightforward, so I loaded a test Android project I had made for going through Android basics and connected to the OpenSesame Node server. and it works! I mean, the interface is non-existent and it's really just bare-bones, but having the servo respond through an Android application was pretty refreshing. (the web client and the android client "communicating" with each other--messaging is pretty much for debugging purposes)

chunk update: most parts printed and assembled

currently: stuff that happened are: wired the fingers added screws to necessary assemblies witnessed first failed print during this: servos haven't come yet, but once they do, we can start installing them into the hand/forearm. as always, credit to the Inmoov project.

the quest for robots

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