six-dof-arduino-arm

A 3D Printed Robot Arm Controller Using cheapest components possible: Arduino Uno, 6 servos ( 1 XL, 3 M, 2 SM), and 16 Ch PWM, based on : https://thangs.com/designer/HowToMechatronics/3d-model/Robotic%20Arm%203D%20Model-38899

Uno (current rev3) any version should work

Arduino IDE

• with library from Arduino import manager labeled "Adafruit PMW Servo Driver" I think this

1 of HiLetgo 2pcs PCA9685 16 Channel 12-Bit PWM Servo Motor Driver IIC Module for Arduino Robot

or other Adafruit 16-channel-pwm-servo-driver

2pc of CenryKay MG90S Servo 9G Micro Servo Motor，6PCS MG90S Metal Geared Servo Motor for Arduino Raspberry Pi

2 x maybe this one? Hitec RCD 31422S HS-422 Deluxe Servo from Local hobby store

1 x for shoulder need heavy duty: Hitec hs-805mg

*image shown not in repo, provided by "thangs" model page link above. Settings lets you set your own.

Inspiration and 3D model

After struggling with 3D printing for over 13 years, I printed out this a while back (sometime after 2022) but was disappointed in the control software I was using. I recently tried to use ChatGPT to see if it could complete the simplified code I no longer have faster than I did. It wasn't faster, but the libraries were far more terse and I wasn't wasting time on language selection.

Biggest improvement since last shot. Gen AI and ChatGPT

Things that improved:

• Ardunino is amazing!!!
• Adafruit libs given in GPT example were much more concise
• Refactoring to more modular code was the largest cost but was forced to reduce code drops and drifting. Large text prompts struggle being a few hundred lines.
• less invested in code. I'm ADHD and code obsessed. releasing imperfect code is terrifying, this is less so

File Structure

/six-dof-arduino-arm
|-- app.py
|-- pwm_control_panel.py
|-- servo_slider.py
|-- arduino_manager.py
|-- servo_manager.py
|-- settings.py
|-- dialog.py
|-- images/
|   |-- arm_diagram.png
|   |-- servo_0.png
|   |-- servo_1.png
|   ... (and so on for each servo image)
|-- settings.pkl  (or some other settings storage file)

https://github.com/JENkt4k/six-dof-arduino-arm.git

Here's a breakdown of what each file and directory is used for:

• app.py: This is the entry point of your application. It initializes and runs the main application window and ties all the components together.
• pwm_control_panel.py: Contains the PWMControlPanel class responsible for creating and managing the set of servo sliders and their associated images.
• servo_slider.py: Contains the ServoSlider compound widget class which includes a slider, a label, and an entry widget for each servo. arduino_manager.py: Manages the communication with the Arduino, including sending commands and connecting/disconnecting. servo_manager.py: Handles the logic for updating servo positions, including debouncing and maintaining the state. settings.py: Manages loading and saving user settings (e.g., number of servos, image paths). dialog.py: Contains the SettingsDialog class that creates and manages the settings dialog window. images/: A directory containing all the images used by the application, such as diagrams for each servo or a single arm diagram. settings.pkl: A file where user settings are persisted between sessions. This might be a pickle file or another format like JSON or INI. This structure keeps each component of the application isolated and focused on a single responsibility, which is beneficial for maintenance and scalability. It also makes it easy to locate files related to specific parts of the application.