Ceiling fan turns into a “spaceship” SCARA robotic arm

Everyone knows how annoying a ceiling fan could be when it isn’t balanced effectively and that annoyance completely demonstrates the need of , sturdy bearing. A ceiling fan’s bearing wants to permit for easy rotational movement with as little friction as doable, whereas fully constraining motion in each different axis. These properties make a ceiling base a surprisingly good start line for a SCARA, as demonstrated in tuenhidiy’s current Instructables write-up.

Of their tutorial, tuenhidiy refers to this as a “Spaceship Scara Arm.” It isn’t precisely clear why they selected the “spaceship” terminology, however it’s just like a traditional SCARA (Selective Compliance Meeting Robotic Arm) — only one with solely two levels of freedom (DOF).

All the level of a SCARA is that it’s absolutely constrained, aside from rotation across the Z axis at every joint. After their ceiling fan broke, tuenhidiy observed that the fan’s base with its beefy bearing can be excellent for this utility. They took that, added a few stepper motors and belts, some aluminum extrusion, and a pair extra bearings to create this easy SCARA.

An Arduino UNO Rev3 board controls these motors by way of a CNC Protect V3. Grbl firmware makes it straightforward to manage the positions of the motors utilizing nearly any software program a consumer may presumably need. Some easy calculations relating to the arm’s geometry and kit ratios ought to let applicable software program decide precisely the place it’s in area. For an illustration, tuenhidiy added a DC solenoid for its magnetic capabilities. However anybody replicating this venture can add their very own finish effector to swimsuit their wants.