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Preface 

About SunFounder 

SunFounder is a technology company focused on Raspberry Pi and Arduino open source 
community development. Committed to the promotion of open source culture, we strive to 
bring the fun of electronics making to people all around the world and enable everyone to 
be  a  maker.  Our  products  include  learning  kits,  development  boards,  robots,  sensor 
modules and development tools. In addition to high quality products, SunFounder also offers 
video tutorials to help you build your own project. If you have interest in open source or 
making something cool, welcome to join us! Visit

 

www.sunfounder.com

 

for more!

 

About This Kit 

The Rollarm Kit for Arduino is designed for mass hobbyists to learn robot arm control. With 
the open source MCU Arduino UNO and a servo expansion board, the robot arm is easy to 
use and full of fun. You can control its four axes by the 4 potentiometers on the handle, as 
well as make them move on your computer. In addition, it can memorize the movements 
it's made and repeat again and again, making it a great tool for repeated tasks. 

In this book, you can learn the basics of how a mechanical arm works and how to make 
one piece by piece. For more information, please go to our website 

www.sunfounder.com

 

and find the tutorial under

 

LEARN

 

-

Get tutorials

. Also video tutorials about the assembly 

and playing are provided under VIDEO -> Robot Kit -> DIY Control Robot Arm Kit for Arduino-
Rollarm. 

Free Support 

If  you  have  any 

TECHNICAL  questions

,  add  a  topic  under 

FORUM

  section  on  our 

website and we'll reply as soon as possible.   

For 

NON-TECH  questions

  like  order  and  shipment  issues,  please

 

send  an  email  to 

[email protected]

. You're also welcomed to share your projects on FORUM.

 

 

 

Summary of Contents for Rollarm

Page 1: ...e MCU Arduino UNO and a servo expansion board the robot arm is easy to use and full of fun You can control its four axes by the 4 potentiometers on the handle as well as make them move on your computer In addition it can memorize the movements it s made and repeat again and again making it a great tool for repeated tasks In this book you can learn the basics of how a mechanical arm works and how t...

Page 2: ...Fixing Plate Base Upper Plate 17 5 7 Joint 1 Connecting Plate Servo Rocker Arm 18 5 8 Joint 1 Connecting Plate 19 5 9 Base Joint 1 Connecting Plate 20 5 10 Joint 2 Right Joint Plate 2 23 5 11 Joint 1 Connecting Plate Joint 2 Connecting Plate 26 5 12 Joint 1 Connecting Plate 28 5 13 Gripper Fixing Plate 29 5 14 Gripper Driving Plate Gripper Driven Plate 30 5 15 Grippers Gripper Fixing Plate 33 5 16...

Page 3: ...olled by a servo Powered by two 18650 batteries the control systems is composed of SunFounder Uno board servo extension board and remote control board The kit includes all necessary components like acrylic plates circuit boards and connector parts For your better learning installation and debugging video tutorials are provided on our website Also you can download the user manual which elaborates o...

Page 4: ...the Rollarm you need to remove the residues in the holes of the plates and the stickers on the plates Here we take the Joint 1 fixing plate for example 1 Check whether there are some residues in the holes of the acrylic plate 2 Use a tool with a pointed end to remove the residue ...

Page 5: ...re that all the residues are cleared 4 Use the pointed tool to scratch off the sticker on the plate 2 2 Connecting Components Name Component Qty M1 2 4 Self tapping Screw 14 M2 8 Screw 8 M2 Nut 8 M3 8 Flat Head Screw 2 M3 8 Screw 10 ...

Page 6: ...www sunfounder com 4 M3 10 Screw 18 M3 Nut 20 M7 Thin Nut 4 3 10 1 Washer 1 M3 10 Aluminum Tube 5 M3 6 Corn Rivet 2 φ3 φ8 4 Band Edge Bearing 3 ...

Page 7: ...www sunfounder com 5 2 3 Electronic Components Name Component Qty SunFounder Servo 9g 4 Potentiometer Button 4 Button 1 18650 2 Battery Holder 1 ...

Page 8: ...www sunfounder com 6 SunFounder Mars Board 1 Expansion Board 1 Potentiometer Module 1 USB Type C Cable 1 RJ11 Cable 2 Riband 1 ...

Page 9: ...www sunfounder com 7 3M Non skid Pad 4 Heat Shrink Tubing 2 Cable Clip 2 2 4 Tools Screw Driver 1 2 5 Self Provided Components 18650 Battery 2 ...

Page 10: ...n open source platform that applies simple software and hardware You can get it in a short even when you know little of it It provides an integrated development environment IDE for code editing and compiling compatible with multiple control boards So you can just download the Arduino IDE upload the sketches i e the code files to the board and then you can see experimental phenomena For more inform...

Page 11: ...m and click to download There are two versions of Arduino for Windows Installer or ZIP file You re recommended to download the former Step 2 Double click the exe file and the following window will show up Click I Agree The following interface will show up Choose Next ...

Page 12: ...tallation path or enter a directory at the Destination Folder Click Install The following interface will show up Note After the installing progress bar goes to the end the Close button may be enabled for some PC Just click it to complete the installation ...

Page 13: ...pt appears Select Always trust software for Adafruit Industries and click Install Select Always trust software for Arduino srl and click Install After the installation is done click Close Then an Arduino icon will appear on the desktop ...

Page 14: ...or downloading you may also find the link in the PDF file downloaded before https s3 amazonaws com sunfounder Arduino Labview zip Note Labview Rollarm Rollarm s Installer setup ex The installer of Labview on your PC Then choose your installation path 3 For related introduction and installation videos of the DIY Control Robot Arm kit for Arduino Rollarm please click VIDEO Robot Kit DIY Control Robo...

Page 15: ...a short one Thread another riband through the base bottom plate 5 2 Base Bottom Plate Battery Holder 1 Place the battery holder on the base bottom plate Cling two M3 nuts underneath the plate and keep them aligned with the holes of the holder Pay attention to put the end without holder power lines at the right side 2 Insert two M3 10 flat head screws into the nuts and fasten them with the screw dr...

Page 16: ...th that of the battery cover and so does the cathode 5 Insert the battery into the battery holder 5 3 Base Bottom Plate Circuit Board 1 Align the four acrylic washers with the holes of the base bottom plate a spare washed is provided in case 2 Place the four acrylic washers on the base bottom plate ...

Page 17: ...rs Fasten them with the M3 12 screws 5 Align the pin headers of the expansion board with the sockets of the Mars board 6 Insert the pin headers into the sockets 5 4 Base Bottom Plate Base Fixing Plate 1 Put an M3 nut in the hole of the base fixing plate Align its bulges with the holes of the base bottom plate 2 Insert the bulges into the holes Fix the two plates with the M3 nut and the M3 10 screw...

Page 18: ...ith the slot of the base upper plate with the rotating axis close to the middle line of the base upper plate 2 Insert the servo into the slot 3 Hold an M2 nut underneath the hole of the servo and the upper plate and insert an M2 8 screw 4 Fasten them with the screw driver 5 Fasten the other screw and nut in the same way ...

Page 19: ...ing plate 2 Insert the bulges into the holes 3 Put an M3 nut in the hole of the base fixing plate insert an M3 10 screw through the plate into the nut and fasten them with the screw driver 4 Fasten the other screw in the same way 5 Paste four non skid pads onto the corners of the base bottom plate 6 It will be like this after pasting ...

Page 20: ...r arm on the connecting plate and rotate it to align its holes with those of the plate 3 Align the holes like this 4 Insert an M1 2 4 self tapping screw into a hole of the plate through the rocker arm 5 Fasten them with the screw driver 6 Fasten the other self tapping screws in the same way 7 Fix a servo rocker arm on the Right Joint Plate 1 in the same way ...

Page 21: ...ecting Plate 1 Align the bulges of the Right Joint Plate 1 with the slots of the Joint 1 Connecting plate 2 Insert the bulges into the slots 3 Put an M3 nut into the hole of the Right Joint Plate 1 and insert an M3 10 screw into the nut through the connecting plate 4 Fasten them with the screw driver ...

Page 22: ...e and the PC will automatically install the driver The COM port connected will appear Connect the yellow red and brown wire to S V and G port as shown above Step 2 Connect the Rollarm to your computer with the Type C cable the driver will be installed automatically at that time then you can see COMxx in device manager Step 3 Go to the folder DIY Control Robot Arm kit for Arduino Rollarm Arduino Co...

Page 23: ...www sunfounder com 21 Step 4 Select the Board And Port Step 5 Click Upload ...

Page 24: ...at the beginning but you GENTLY spin the rocker arm and you ll find it s unmovable So now the servo is adjusted to 90 degrees 1 Power on the servo connect it to the Port 4 with label on the expansion board Align the edge of the connecting plate with that of the base plate 2 Install the servo rocker arm onto the shaft of the servo 3 Fasten them with an M2 4 self tapping screw 4 It would be like thi...

Page 25: ...haft should point to the plate end near the slot the servo to be placed in 2 Insert the servo into the slot of the plate 3 Put an M2 nut in the hole of the servo and insert an M2 8 screw into the nut and fasten them 4 It will be like this after fastening 5 Fasten the other screw in the same way 6 Fix the other servo in the same way ...

Page 26: ...late 2 8 Insert the bulges into the slots 9 Put an M3 nut into the hole of the joint 2 connecting plate and insert an M3 10 screw into the nut 10 Fasten them with the screwdriver 11 Align the two M3 6 copper corn rivets with the holes of the left joint plate 2 12 Insert the rivets into the holes of the plate ...

Page 27: ...f the joint 2 connecting plate Align the bulges of the plate with the slots of the left joint plate 2 14 Insert the bulges into the slots 15 Insert an M3 10 screw into the nut and fasten them with the screw driver 16 It will be like this after fastening ...

Page 28: ...Plate Joint 2 Connecting Plate Note Connect the servo of Joint 2 connecting plate to port D5 of the expansion board while the servo of Joint 3 connecting plate to port D6 Power on the servos then it will be rotate to its 90 position as shown below ...

Page 29: ...rt 5 of the expansion board Align the servo shaft with the round rocker arm connected to the joint 1 connecting plate Remember the servo should be vertically placed as shown below 2 Insert the shaft into rocker arm 3 Fasten them with an M2 4 self tapping screw 4 It will be like this after fastening ...

Page 30: ... the bearing against the joint 2 connecting plate and align the hole of left joint 1 connecting plate with the bearing 3 Insert the bulges of the left joint 1 into the slots of the joint 1 connecting plate and insert the bearing into the hole of the former 4 Turn the power switch off Rotate the joint 1 connecting plate 90 degrees clockwise ...

Page 31: ...necting plate 1 and insert an M3 10 screw into the nut and fasten them 6 It will be like this after fastening 5 13 Gripper Fixing Plate 1 Align the servo with the slot of the gripper fixing plate pay attention to the direction of the shaft 2 Insert the servo into the slot ...

Page 32: ...ew into the nut and fasten them 4 It will be like this after fastening 5 Fasten another screw in the same way 5 14 Gripper Driving Plate Gripper Driven Plate 1 Align the servo rocker arm with the hole of the gripper driving plate Note Pay attention to the side the rocker is on 2 Put the rocker arm on the plate ...

Page 33: ...crew driver 5 Insert an M1 2 4 self tapping screw into the last hole and fasten them 6 Align an M3 10 aluminum tube with the rest hole of the plate 7 Put the tube on the plate 8 Insert an M3 8 screw into the tube from the other side of the plate 9 Fasten them with the screw driver 10 Fix another aluminum tube similarly ...

Page 34: ...ign the holes of the gripper assistant with the aluminum tubes 12 Fasten them with an M3 8 screw 13 It would be like this after fastening 14 Fix an M3 8 screw to the other tube 15 Install the gripper driven plate in the same way ...

Page 35: ... on the servo then the servo will rotate to its 170 position as shown below 1 Power on the servo and connect the servo of the gripper fixing plate to port No 7 of the expansion board Align the servo rocker arm with the shaft and keep the gripper edge of the driving plate parallel to the side of the fixing plate 2 Insert the servo shaft into the rocker arm ...

Page 36: ...ith an M2 4 self tapping screw 4 It will be like this after fastening 5 Align the aluminum tube with the hole of the gripper fixing plate 6 Put the tube on the plate 7 Insert an M3 8 screw into the hole 8 Fasten them with the screw driver ...

Page 37: ...ep the inner edges of the two gripper plates parallel and the gears meshed 11 Put a 3 10 1 washer on the bearing and fasten them with an M3 8 screw 12 It will be like this after fastening 5 16 Gripper Fixing Plate Right Joint Plate 3 1 Align the bulges of the gripper fixing plate with the slots of the right joint plate 3 2 Insert the bulges into the slots ...

Page 38: ...int 2 Connecting Plate Joint 3 Connecting Plate 1 Power on the servo and connect the servo of the joint 3 connecting plate to port No 6 of the expansion board Align the servo rocker arm with the shaft and keep the two joint plates near perpendicular to each other 2 Fasten them 3 Fasten them with an M2 4 self tapping screw 4 It will be like this after fastening ...

Page 39: ...the corn rivet with its edge against the plate 2 Align the hole of the left joint plate 3 with the bearing 3 Insert the bulges of the gripper fixing plate into the slots of the left joint plate 3 4 Put an M3 nut in the hole of the fixing plate and insert an M3 10 screw into the nut ...

Page 40: ...9 Handle 1 Align the bulges of the handle fixing plate with the slotted holes of the handle bottom plate 2 Insert the bulges into the slots 3 Put an M3 nut in the hole of the fixing plate and insert an M3 10 screw into the nut 4 Fasten them with the screw driver ...

Page 41: ...gn the four holes of the handle upper plate with the 4 potentiometers on the Potentiometer Module 7 Insert the pots into the four holes 8 Fasten one pot with an M7 thin nut 9 It will be like this after fastening 10 Fasten the other three pots with the M7 thin nuts in the same way ...

Page 42: ...e bulges into the holes with the module on the bottom plate 13 Put an M3 nut in the hole of the handle fixing plate and insert an M3 10 screw into the nut 14 Fasten them with the screw driver 15 Fasten the other screw similarly 16 Rotate the potentiometer clockwise to the end and align the bulged part of button with the 0 position ...

Page 43: ...nfounder com 41 17 Put the button onto the potentiometer and press to tighten them 18 Install the other three pot buttons in the same way Rotate them to 0 position 19 Install the button 20 Press to tighten it ...

Page 44: ...the extension board with the RJ11 cables Notes 1 Before connecting the servo wires to the ports turn off the power Turn it on again after all the wires are connected 2 When the servos are on remember NOT to rotate the servo rocker arms Turn them off if you want to do so 3 Please be careful that the servos shouldn t be kept stalling Otherwise it will cause damages In a word when you are not running...

Page 45: ...le click Rollarm to open the four simultaneously Rollarm ino is the main program when the others are subprograms When you open the main program the subprograms will be opened automatically Step 2 Select the corresponding board and port then click Upload Step 3 After the code upload turn the power switch on then we can try to control the Rollarm Step 4 Rotate the four potentiometer buttons in diffe...

Page 46: ... one servo to the desired position and press the yellow button shortly to let the control board record this step Record the rest steps in this way When all the steps are done press and hold the yellow button for a while 3s So it will repeat the recorded steps Rollarm can record at most 100 steps because of the control board s memory limit ...

Page 47: ...to control the arms The 4 servos from top to bottom are connected to port 4 7 respectively of the expansion board and the 4 potentiometers control the ports accordingly In other words spin the white potentiometer to control the uppermost servo the yellow to control the next servo below the orange to control the next servo and the red one to control the bottom servo Since the Rollarm has four servo...

Page 48: ... SensVal 1 map SensVal 1 0 1023 10 170 SensVal 2 map SensVal 2 0 1023 10 170 SensVal 3 map SensVal 3 0 1023 100 175 After compiling the program we need to make Rollarm remember the steps which is done through pressing the button Calculate the time the button pressed void Button if digitalRead 3 0 delay 10 if digitalRead 3 0 KeyValue 0 while digitalRead 3 KeyValue delay 100 We can tell which part o...

Page 49: ...ive_repeat i delay 500 Did not press the button open the manual mode else ReadPot Mapping0 Next we are going to call the function to write the value of the servo rotating angle However it is not merely about writing the values directly the difference between two adjacent rotating values will also be written into the servos Here we take a servo program for example The first axis if Dif0 n 0 for int...

Page 50: ...ownload the Labview package in the link below https s3 amazonaws com sunfounder Arduino Labview zip After downloading unzip and open it If you haven t installed the Labview Runtime you can get into the Labview Rollarm Project Rollarm Installer folder install the setup file If you have installed the Labview Runtime you can just get into the Labview Rollarm Project Rollarm folder double click the Ro...

Page 51: ...ing program into Arduino Open the folder LIFA_Base under path DIY Control Robot Arm kit for Arduino Rollarm Arduino Code Open the file LIFA_Base ino Upload the sketch to the Arduino DO NOT unplug the USB cable at the moment Open the software which includes two parts manual control and automatic control 1 Manual Mode ...

Page 52: ... control below After the Labview is installed and run this mode is enabled by default b Click the menu downlist icon for Serial Port select the port according to your COM port Here is COM1 which varies for different computers The interface is as follows ...

Page 53: ...s before the port it indicates something goes wrong with the port To solve the problem just replug the USB cable Then start from sketch upload again Select the Board Type and Connection Type here we take Uno and USB connection type as an example ...

Page 54: ...www sunfounder com 52 c There are three small icons at the top left Click the middle one to run the software Then the three icons will change to the state below ...

Page 55: ...itial position of the four axes is respectively set to 90 90 90 and 150 from bottom to top so the corresponding servos should be like as shown below d Click Start and the button will change from dark to light green as shown below ...

Page 56: ...ectively from bottom up 2 Automatic Mode You can also switch between manual control and automatic control through the rocker switch between Manual and Auto To switch to the automatic control you need to click the Start button to disable it and the following interface will appear Fill the value of the rotating angle of the servos into the table under Auto Mode one by one ...

Page 57: ... refers to the time between setting the rotating angle between M4 in row 1 and M2 in row 2 or M4 in row 2 and M1 in row 3 etc The interval time on the right refers to the one between setting the two adjacent rotating angles within a group After filling the figures click the Start button Rollarm will then perform as you just set Note that the range of the data for Mode 4 is 90 180 Otherwise it will...

Page 58: ...ten them forcefully 2 About the Arduino code control Q1 When I open a program it prompts me that a new folder should be created After I click Yes and a new folder is created the main program reports an error when I want to open the main program What s going wrong A1 DO NOT open these subprograms under Arduino Code Rollarm separately If you open the subprograms separately a dialog box will pop up l...

Page 59: ...rong with the Serial Port For instance the following condition may appear Turn off the Rollarm power it on again and reconnect the serial port to try Q2 The Rollarm is in a strange position when I click Start and it s in the automatic mode Anything wrong A Here no value is filled in the table yet The first three axes are in 0 and the last one is in 90 You need to fill the correct value of the rota...

Page 60: ... in different steps and the interval time between steps If you don t know the exact angle you can shift to the manual mode and note down the angle values for each step and then shift back to fill in When all the steps above are done you can click Start to let Rollarm perform the automatic control ...

Page 61: ...ly use it for personal study investigation enjoyment or other non commercial or nonprofit purposes under the related regulations and copyrights laws without infringing the legal rights of the author and relevant right holders For any individual or organization that uses these for commercial profit without permission the Company reserves the right to take legal action ...

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