Child's Dreams and Robotic Arms

When I was a child, I always wanted a robotic arm. It was supposed to be controlled by a wired remote control, could go up and down and grab stuff. For some reason I didn't get it. I had forgotten about it for a while and grew up in the meantime. Today, a Conrad brochure was in the mail with pictures of this toy. Just like the one I wanted, only better. Awh, come on Thomas you're too old for ... Wait, there's an interface card that comes with it, I can program the thing. Cool. I was hooked.
After some more reflection I concluded that I probably couldn't stand the LEDs that go off every time a joint motor gets activated. Plus it's a plastic toy. As Empeggers we are all aware of the difference between men and boys: The pricetag on their toys. Hmmm... a metal arm, a fully programmable interface, claws with more bite and more than wimpish 130g lifting capacity. Maybe a small semi-professional industrial robotic arm? Now, I know next to nothing about (industrial) robotic arms, and I figured the technically well-versed members of this BBS may have a pointer to push me in the right direction. Any suggestions?

My local Apple shop had some sort of robotic arm they had hooked up to the web for a while. I'll have to check into what kind it was. I do know it was similar to your link, but no lights.

I remember I had something similar that I got as a Christmas gift when I was a kid. It was from Radio Shack

Check out http://www.lynxmotion.com/

they use r/c model servos. Can be controlled by a PIC or a PC.

ARMATRON!

Man, that was the most covetted toy in my neighborhood. I tried to trade many a throwing star for one of those puppies. Here's how to hook one up to a serial port...

Oh erm... I've actually got that arm as somebody gave it to me a present years ago It's okay as a toy but that's about it. The lifting capacity isn't brilliant and it does feel very cheap and plasticy. I've got a Lynxmotion Lynx 6 arm and it's much better.

The toy arm uses normal DC motors so is rather inaccurate for positioning. There's no feedback as well. It uses a weird thick fabric washer system as a slipclutch which also limits how strong the arm can be. I've no idea how good the PC interface is.

The Lynxmotion arm however is much sturdier and better construction. It uses proper servos so can be positioned quite accurately. You do pay for this however, it's around 4-5 times more expensive than the kit one.

Dude, have a word with pca. He'd build you a robotic arm that could lift a truck! Probably with stereoscopic vision too! It'd cost you though....

I had an Armatron! Got it from a car boot sale for about £1.50 and sold it a few years ago for about the same money. Excellent toy, although the mechanics were such that the claw would rotate as the elbow joint moved. Also the claw was a bit weak - a PP3 was about it's limit, then it would skip a tooth and slip out.

Gareth

ARMATRON!

Could be the one I wanted as a kid, I remember it had orange claws.

I've got a Lynxmotion Lynx 6 arm and it's much better.

Nice. It's not metal, but polycarbonate sounds tough enough for my purposes. Which option did you go for? For hackability reasons, I want one with a microcontroller, but am new to them. The "Smoothest operation" hint on the site rules out the OOPic-R, but leaves the decision between the BASIC Atom and BASIC Stamp 2. I do have some programming experience (C, C++, Java, ...), ease of use is not a concern to me, neither are the USD 20 price difference. Got a suggestion which one is right for me? BTW did you order them from the maker or did you find a trusty reseller in Europe?

ARMATRON!

Hey, I've still got one of those on the attic ! The original one, not the mobile version. It's been there for 15 years now I guess...mmm, I wonder if it still works. It should.

This robot arm on wheels looks pretty cools too. But it can't rotate, I wonder if one could mount the turntable arm on the 4WD Rover 2...