Robot arm interface, in need of suggestions

Keytops

·Hello all, I plan to use a basic stamp controller to control a servo operated robot arm·that will load parts from one spot to another.·I have the arm partially completed but I worry now about the interface, I've played with basic stamp controllers and used them for simple tasks but I'm in over my head with this one.·

Best case scenario I could have a GUI that will allow me to load up different macros to perform various tasks and allow me to store data on what has been done.· I'd like to also use a joystick to control the arm if possible and have an option to record the joystick movement and save it as macros.

Most of this I'll have to make in in a java applet but I could use some help with the basic stamp portion.· I've been looking through google for information on using joysticks and basic stamp but I'd really appriciate it if I could get some suggestions or feedback on what route to take with all this.· Thanks for reading

-keys

SRLM

Depends on the Joystick. If it's not USB, you're in luck. It's fairly simple to interface an older joystick to a microcontroller. If you want something smaller/cheaper this joystick would work well. All you have to is hook it up to a capacitor, and RCTIME it.

As for creating macros, depends on where you want control to be. The Parallax Servo Controller has a nice GUI that allows you to create macros. You could theoretically do the project with the PSC to control the servos, joystick to the computer, and skip the basic stamp altogether. That's the route to take if you're a good programmer.

Keytops

Rofl good programmer, I'm not sure about that, those are hard come by altogeather.· If you say it's simple I suppose I could pull it off.· Thanks for your hardware advice; I saw the servo·interface that the servo controller comes with but couldn't find any details on, sounds like just what I needed.· Least I know what wares I need now, thanks much!!

-keys

SRLM

Keytops said...
Rofl good programmer, I'm not sure about that, those are hard come by altogeather.

I'm not quite sure what reference this has to your programming level, but if you're a beginner definitely go with the Basic Stamp over the computer based programming environment (for autonomous work). It can be difficult to work with com ports, and learning a full size language like Java or C++ takes time.