Building a Robotic Arm

Have you ever wondered what future looks like? The whole world will be filled with technology and robots will be everywhere. We can even image lots of people enjoying careers in engineering and robotics! Robots are extremely precise when they work. Soon robots will be making other robots!

In this instructable you will learn how to make a simple DIY robotic arm, using a kit from OWI Robot Arm Edge. Robotic arms are used in complicated and intricate processes like assembling cars, building airplanes and even collecting samples from distant planets like Mars.

First of all, you should check all parts and make sure that you have everything. The easiest thing to do, (in our opinion) is to separate all the different pieces. There are many different types of screws, which look alike. Get a lot of small zip lock bags, label them with marker and separate the pieces. This will save you a lot of trouble later. Trust us. We learnt it the hard way!

Make sure that you cut out all pieces. You will have to cut very precisely to get some of the pieces to fit.

Take a pair of tweezers and four P18 nuts. put them inside the little notches on piece A2. MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE NUTS IN A WAY THAT THE SIDE FACING UPWARD IS POINTY!! Failing to do so will prevent you to assemble the motor in a later step.

Take the P7 (black) and attach it to the P6 ( blue) then you put the combined gear into the hole in A2.

On top of that, place P9 into P7/P6 gear. Then, put another P6 into the shallow hole and put the P4 onto the second shaft. After that, put another P4 on top of the combined gear ( P7/P6). Finally, put P5 ( brown on top the FIRST P4 (gray). ( not the combined gear assembly)

Take P1 and place both the wires through the opening of A2. The next thing to do is to take A1 and screw it on top of A2 with three P13 screws.

Repeat steps for all motors.

Here are the correct wires and output gears to use: VERY IMPORTANT

1. One Blue/Black wire goes with the WHITE output screw.
2. The second Blue/Black wires goes with the BLACK output screw.
3. Both orange/black wires go with the BLACK output screws

Once you have all the motors, take D1 and stack 3 B1s on top of it. then take a black and orange wire motor and place it inside.

insert the battery terminals (P20 and P21) Make sure that the lump on P20 faces outside! I made this mistake earlier and I had to take it apart completely to put it the right way again. After this step, it would be a good idea to test the battery to make sure that they work. We found this out the hard way ;)

Snap in the orange wire into the guides on the bottom of the battery pack. Then, make sure that all the wires are out of the way before inserting F1 with 3 P13 screws.

Insert the 4 D batteries

Take D3 and insert F7. Flip it over and place on the battery pack making sure that the notch is facing outwards. Then, take a P14 and P19 and screw it on.

Take F4 and screw it onto the black and orange motor using 2 P19's and 2 P15's. Then, flip it over and place it on top of D3. Then screw it on with 4 P12's.

take 4 P12 screws and screw it onto the motor that will go on the base.

Take E1 and screw it onto the M2 and M3 motors with 4 P15 screws. Do the same for the bottom.

Take F2 and connect it to F3 with 1 P13 screw. Then, connect that combined piece and connect it to the connected piece made in the previous step with 4 P12 screws.

Then, take 2 F7 pieces and connect it to the E2 piece. Then, connect that piece to the piece we made in the previous step with 1 P14 screw.

attach P9 and P10 to the N1 piece. then attach the P5 (brown) and two P4 (grey) and attach a P7 (black OUTPUT gear to a P6 {blue} gear) and place it on top of the P4(grey) gear.

Place the Black and Yellow motor in the holder and make sure that the wires are snapped into the side groove. Then, take F5 and attach it to N1. Next, grab the N2 piece and cover the motor with it. Finally, flip the whole thing over and screw them together with four P11 screws.

Place N6 into the item that you made in the previous step. Then screw it on with a P11 screw. Insert N7 into the N 1/2 piece. Then insert N5 at the opposite angle next, screw the N5 piece on with P17.

Place P17 into N8. Then, put that over N7 and attach to machine with a P17 screw.

Take P23 and unpeel it and stick it under N3. Then, take another P23 and attach it to N4.Attach N3 and N4 to the N1/N2 piece using 2 P16 screws on the left side and 1 P16 screw on the right side. Then, flip it over and attach 1 P16 screw to it.

Take the P22 LED and place it through the holder on the N1/N2 piece. Then, make sure the wire is threaded out. Then, attach the N9 piece to the holder to keep it in place. Attach the B3 piece to the gripper.

Attach the gripper to the arm( the instructions aren't very clear so here is the picture) and secure with a P14 screw.

Attach F7 to F6. Then, attach F7/F6 to the robotic arm with a P14 screw. ( The instructions aren't very clear here is a picture) :

Attach 2 E3's to the gripper and the arm . ( Here is a picture again. :P) WARNING!!!! do not attach the E3's on top of each other. if you look, you will find two small pillars to attach the E3's to.

Pull the 3 wires form the bottom and pull it through the D2 piece and attach it to the battery compartment with 3 P13 screws. The black and red wire goes to BK R. The plain orange goes to GND, and the black and orange goes to OBK on the P25 circuit board. Then, attach it to the D2 piece with 3 P12 screws. Then, take B2 and attach to the G2 piece and make sure that the numbers are facing the back end and secure it with 1 P14 screw.

M4 is the lower most visible motor. ( Here is a picture):

M3 and M2 are above M4( Here is a picture)

L is connected to the LED.

M1 is connected to the gripper

From the gripper arm, it goes in this particular order:

L

M1

M2

M3

M4

Then, attach all the wires to the designated places on B2.

Peel 5 P24's and attach 1 right behind the gripper, 2 next to E1 and 2 on the base to secure the wires.( here is a picture)

WHohooo!!!

You finished your done with the robotic arm

Now for the remote control.

Not completely done yet................................... sorry about that

Don't worry this will be easier.

First, grab all the pieces of A1-5 (the toggles)and grab B and C, (the front and back of the remote control)

Then, take P3 and press it into the two pillars on the C piece. and make sure the wire is facing the right way.

add the five metal plates to the places indicated in the picture and secure with a P2 screw. Make sure that they are straight and not wonky!

on the other side, insert the A1-5 pieces into the slots and make sure A1=M1 and so on. screw the bottom on with 4 P2s and flip it over. plug it into the slot at the end of the base of the robot and YOU ARE DONE!!!!!!!!! ( for real this time ! )show it off to all your friends and family. Your robot is done and all ready. Play a game with it and have fun. Pick up obstacles and if you have any question, comments or suggestions please fell free to leave them below. This is our 3rd instructable so we are open to feedback.

Thanks,

Tarini Srikanth

Roshni Srikanth