Interactive Primary Newsletter 26 "Don't talk to me about life" or all about a Robot Arm

Lend a Hand  Put-down The robotics arm is delivered in kit form and at first sight the assembly of all the parts may look a tad complicated. However anyone who has assembled an IKEA or MFI bookcase should find assembly reasonably straightforward. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. You will end up with a few self-tapping screws but don't worry, they are spares. Depending on experience, complete assembly could be done in about 2 hours but it is better take your time and make sure each part works properly as you go along. The beauty is that you can make up parts when you have a spare half-hour and leave them assembled until you have your next 'free' time. The figure above shows the completed model holding a D cell to give some idea of scale. The body parts of the robot are made from smoked acrylic, the gear wheels are plastic and there are 5 motors with gearbox. The base of the robot holds the power source, 4 D cells, the weight of the batteries help with the stability of the arm. The keyboard is also made from smoked acrylic with 5 labelled keys; the individual named keys operate different parts of the arm.

A perfect put-down The most obvious use of the arm is to use it as a pick and place robot. Imagine processed parts being removed from an assembly line and placed on a test rig or placed in a box for packing. Now your task, should you wish to take it, is to move the D cell from a paper circle and place it in a box. Any box will do, but if you wish the robot to retrieve the battery the box should be big enough to accommodate the gripper and wrist. The battery could then be taken from the box and returned to the circle of paper. This is where the children come in, what other simple tasks could we undertake with the arm? As the gripper can be turned through 180 degrees, could the arm be used to fill or empty a cardboard or polystyrene drinks cup? ICT