ROBOT CLAW PROTOTYPE

The advancement in robotics may not be as fast as the advancement in information technology . If you will try to look at it, there are companies that have been working for decades just for an attempt to come up with a humanoid robot but anybody can still say categorically that robotics industry is still primitive. A software may be easy to develop, as you are only working them electronically but with robotics, you are dealing with the real world, the outside world, you have to deal with motion, not an in-game physics but the real physics, where you have to deal with outside forces, like friction, wind, water, etc, there are tons of concepts to consider when you are attempting to build a humanoid robot. But instead of focusing on the negative, we channel our energy of what we can do.

Robotic arm is one of the most difficult engineering challenges you have to deal with, when you are building a humanoid robot, so we take it step by step. Before we try to build an entire arm that is fully functional we might want to take the first step in building first the hand then we attach it later to an elbow and the shoulder.

In this article, I am going to show you my own robot claw prototype using Lego Mindstorm parts and that may be used as an attachment to complete a complete robotic arm.

One day, while my daughter and I were enjoying some arcade games in a mall we came across to this teddy picker.

When I saw this, I just thought if I will try to create my own crane claw using the Lego Mindstorm EV3 set.

I started creating a platform where the claws will sit.

Then, I used a couple of angular beams for the claw and attached it to the wrist platform.

After that, I attached an actuator, it is a device that converts rotational motion into a linear motion.

Next, we will now use a couple of long beams and connector pegs to wrap around the actuator, this will also serve a frame to house the motor that will pull back and forth the claws.