Thread: $100 Robotic Arm View Single Post ##$100 Robotic Arm

http://builders.reprap.org/2009/09/b...boo-robot.html

I want to see this design move forward. Before I can work on the mechanical engineering aspects of the motors: I want to work on my position control system.

(Cheap geared DC motors like those from solarbotics/chinese drill motors seem ideal if I can convert them in to servos somehow.

I'm also considering DIY worm wheels drawing from the astronomy or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetorheological_fluid between clutch plates to manage the holding torque issue with DC, but that's getting ahead of myself.)

Rather than going with the potentiometer/optical encoder positioning that seems popular on many systems/servos: for ultra-low budget reasons: I'm inclided to go with a CCD active motion capture setup wiimote style.

http://www.chinavasion.com/product_i...-audio-camera/

Now: If I put and IR filter on several of these cameras and affix them to the arm on each axis of movement: I imagine I can keep the robotic arm in a room with line of sight to multiple reference IR LEDs, and I can use this code: