Jebediah the DIY 3D Printable Quadruped Robot

TogleFritz developed a futuristic four legged robot you can make with some basic 3d printing and electronics skills. 

Project description:

Jeb is a quadruped robot that the code in this repository is designed to control. Quadruped robots are robots with four legs. Jeb is designed with three degrees of freedom per leg. Each leg is actuated by three servos. The first servo moves the leg forward/backward, the second servo moves the leg up and down, and the third servo bends the leg in the middle. With four legs and three servos per leg, the robot is driven by 12 servos in total.

Jebediah looks cool (in an insectoid kinda way):

Detailed build guide;

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-3D-Printed-Quadruped-Robot/

GitHub repository of the project with all the files and other information:

https://github.com/Toglefritz/Quadruped_Robot

Code is at:

https://github.com/KurtE/Arduino_Phoenix_Parts

• The microcontroller used is a Botboarduino
• The servo controller is an SSC-32U
• For input the robot uses a wireless Platstation 2
• This repository also includes a library for using NeoPixel LED lighting products from Adafruit.

Cheap DIY Linear Servo Based on SG92R Motor

Here is a simple way to make cheap linear servo movement with a 5 USD SG92R motor and some 3d printing. It can move some 200 gram at 6V.

Construction guide and testing video:





Files for it can be found at:

https://github.com/tscha70/3DPrinterSTLFiles

3d printed RC Mars rover robot

Josef Vladik from Czech Republic designed and 3d printed a remotely controlled Mars robotic rover inspired by Curiosity rover. It is all wheel powered and controlled with Arduino Mega.

Tech specs:

• main control unit is Ardunio Mega. 
• for moving six 9g servos re used with metal gears and they are customized for 360 rotation 
• for steering six standard 9g servos are used 
• control is standard 4 channels 
• Powered by 2S or 3S lipo battery - 6V SBEC

Here you can see this DIY rover in action:



... and here is the rover going over the obstacles:



Here is the project homepage (currently unavailable) where the author posted build instructions:

http://www.mochr.ic.cz/index.php?id=rc-rover

Here are all files on Thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:682828

Here is the updated Mk" version with additional robotic hand gripper:




Update:

NASA released the official 3d model that is 3d printable of their real rover:

http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/mars-rover-curiosity

Using DC motors to replace steppers on x and y axis

Here is a new project of running a 3d printer with cheap DC servo motors. It was developed by misan from Spain and he used it successfully on x and y axis of his Prusa I3. Dc motors are controlled by Arduino Uno and the project is based on "servostrap" project. DC motors are cheap and can be found and salvaged in recyclable or scrap electronic device such as paper printers and others.

He made the code and bracket designs available. Thnx misan!

DC servo motor powering y axis of Prusa I3

You can find all the files and code here:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/dc-motor-closed-loop-control-software

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:618042

Here are the files for y-axis DC motor drive:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:620183


Here is video of stepper motor and servo running together:




Here is a video of DC servo motor powering the x-axis:



Here is a video of DC servo motors powering the x- and y-axis:



Project description:

This program uses an Arduino for a closed-loop control of a DC-motor.

• Motor motion is detected by a quadrature encoder.

• Two inputs named STEP and DIR allow changing the target position.

• Serial port prints current position and target position every second.

• Serial input can be used to feed a new location for the servo (no CR LF).

Pins used:

• Digital inputs 2 & 8 are connected to the two encoder signals (AB).

• Digital input 3 is the STEP input.

• Analog input 0 is the DIR input.

• Digital outputs 5 & 6 control the PWM outputs for the motor (I am using half L298 here).

• Please note PID gains kp, ki, kd need to be tuned to each different setup.

How to make servo powered 3d printed valves for air or fluid flow control

Mikey77 known for several projects like the conductive printed electronic circuits posted his new work on 3d printable servo powered valves.  The PLA printed valve can be used to menage air or fluid flow for any purpose you need it, the electronics are easy to put together and are controlled by Arduino or Picaxe. Servos used in this project are Futaba S3110 micro-servos.

Here is the 3d printed valve controlling the 3d printed robot muscle with air pressure 

From project description:

The 3D printed valve is actually two valves that are controlled by one micro servo. When the cam (gray) is rotated to center, both valves are closed. From there, either one can be turned on, one at a time. The cam followers (black) push on the silicone tubing to compress it and create simple pinch valves.

The servo is quite efficient in that it is about the same volume of two 12 volt solenoid valves that handle the same pressure. It works efficiently at 20 PSI of air pressure and it has been tested at up to 30 PSI. It has also been motion tested and after more than 4300 on-off cycles it did not show significant signs of wear on the moving parts.

It is also considerably lighter than two solenoid valves and uses much less energy to operate. Once actuated, the valves can be left open or closed without using power.

Detailed construction guide, electronic schematics and files can be found at:

http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Print-Make-Servo-Controlled-Valves/?ALLSTEPS

RepScrap DIY 3d printer from salvaged InkJet parts made by Michael Ball

Michael Ball decided to make a 3d printer from discarded printer and scanner parts like some people before him. His build process is very well documented and very educational especially about motor and electronics configuration.  One of the projects goals is to create a 3D printer using DC motors and the salvaged Optical Encoder strips.You will also find his Arduino driver code on the project site.

The total cost of purchased parts for the build is around 355 USD. There are some low cost printers available for the same or lower amount, but this one has bigger print surface and the joy of building it.

Great work Michael!

Here is a video of RepScrap X-Axis DC Motor and Linear Optical Encoder repurposed from an old InkJet Printer. Arduino Pro-Mini is running the DC motor, and reading the high resolution Linear Optical Encoder for positioning.

RepScrap homepage:

http://arduino-pi.blogspot.ca/2014/04/my-journey-into-building-3d-printer.html

Here is a similar project from even older matrix printer parts:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2014/05/hot-to-build-diy-delta-from-junk-matrix.html

ServoStock Delta 3d printer powered by servos and Bowler protocol

This Delta is heavily modified Kossel derivative which uses DC motor powered servos instead of stepper motors developed by team led by mad.hephaestus.

On each axis is a small board containing a magnetic encoder, and a continuous rotation servo. With this setup, the makers are able to get 4096 steps per revolution with closed loop control that can drive the servo to with ±2 ticks.
The electronics and firmware are fully redesigned configuration when compared to the usual 3D printers. The motherboard uses a Pic32 running at 80MHz. In parallel with hardware, the communication between the host and printer has been completely redesigned, instead of g-code, the team is using the Bowler protocol for sending packets over serial, TCP/IP, or just about any other communications protocol you can think of.

The final aim is to create much cheaper powerful 3d printer that would cost in 200 - 300 USD range.

Project on hackaday.io:

http://hackaday.io/project/962

GitHub repository:

https://github.com/Technocopia/ServoStock

There is lot of discussion on the project page and on hackaday about viability of this technology. I don't know much about all the stuff they use, so it will be lot of new stuff to learn. Maybe it will be the standard in the future.

Here is a video about closed vs. open control systems:



Here is a link about differences of DC vs. servo vs. stepper motors:

https://www.modmypi.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-dc-servo-stepper-motors