Robot arms and Digitizer

[vacpress]

I have been obsessed with robot arms since i was 10.... I have been obsessing about building one recently.. I spent hors figuring out invese kinematics before i realized it was trig and looked on the net for formulas.. Anyways, i would really like to build a robot arm and\or a point digitizer. THey have similar hardware and design considerations.. I am curious about how Mach 2, Rhino, and other programs get their point cloud data... Is there a publication with some sort of protocol to provide x,y,z coordinates from serial port or something?

Im picturing encoders from mice, simple alumium tubing construction, a PIC micro step decoder and serial server.


any ideas? I am very interested in building this..

In addition, i keep waiting to find "opensource cnc" or soething similar

a real, organized effor to make some great quality opensource hardware and software available.. not cad\cam packages, but things like digitizing systems, 4,th,5th,6th axis designs, PCBs for all the important electrical components. I know there is interest in this. I will post more about it. If someone would donate some webspace, we could start.. And also use surceforge resources... Im sure we allready have alot of designs, they jsut need to be put together in a good format and tested by multiple users..

Just a thought..

[GWheeler]

Some modern surveying equipment will provide point clouds.

As a profession, they are not interested too much in spending money to provide open source software. They look at software as a business expense, rather than an avocation.

[vacpress]

yes. i understand the profit motivator. the question is more insightfull than that - i hope. the idea came about when i noticed Rhino 3D can import point data, and that mach2, as well as other cnc software can apparently create a file of 3d coordinates which it obtains with a digital depth probe on the z axis. i have found this is for part verification as well as 3 axis digitization.

i figure if some program prepares the data for rhino, like a driver, or something, then it could be easy to import simple 3d geometry into rhino using a cheap probe made from the linear position encoders from inside inkjet printers.

these linear encoders from inkjets could be pretty good for CNC where vibration isnt a big concern - like digitization...

OH - and on opensource CNC - it seems like, at the least, a very admirable attempt is being made. Yay.

[High Seas]

VacPress -
www.Metris.com
offers a download of POLYFORM - it could be another option - you know - take a peak and see what works and how - I''m not saying reverse engineer - but see what the standards are. Hope thats helpful and not just noise...
Jim

[Splint]

Vacpress,
you may want to investigate EMC, opensource machine control software which from what I understand can handle the kinematics to control robot arms so it should be reasonably easy to adapt it for arm type digitsers. Get onto their mailing list and ask if it has been done, someone may have allready done it or be thinking about doing it. www.linuxcnc.org
Cheers
Splint