Animatronic Shoulder Cannon WIP

PredaHawk

New Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QHgEBsJLAA

I have started work on the electronics for my animatronic shoulder cannon. I still need to fine-tune the code so the action is smoother, but from the video clip, you get the basic idea. 3 servos to deploy the cannon over the shoulder.

100_0079.jpg.gif

100_0080.jpg.gif

My rig. At this point it is VERY rudimentary. I have A LOT of work to do with it. From the left, 3 servos connected together held steady in a vice. In the middle (attached to the vice), a prototype board (white) from Radioshack, allowing me to move jumper wires around as needed. On the right, the Activity board (green) that holds the BASIC Stamp 2 chip and cable, so I can program it from my PC.

The goal for this project is to have the BASIC Stamp embedded into the left forearm prop as the "wrist computer" with additional manual cannon control from my left glove hand, board-driven sound effects and LEDs (much work left!). More to follow, stay tuned...

R.:
 
That looks like you have a great cannon in the works! Sounds like when your finished it will be awesome! I am lost when it comes to something like this. I just purchased one recently so I wouldn't have to strain my brain. :D The one I have works with a joystick .( cannon not my brain!) :eek:
Keep us posted ! Look forward to seeing final result. ;)
 
PredaHawk,

Great video, a good start!

What controls the speed on each axis?

How big will the controller be, i.e. how much room allocated to the plasmacaster control itself inside the wristcomputer?

---
Ei'luj
 
wow that is super cool. I have a friend who built a functional R2D2 and he mentioned servo kits that can be connected to an eye piece that moves with your head.
 
Speed is controlled by the PAUSE in the PULSOUT command. I can speed it up by making it longer or shorter, and by adding a STEP to the FOR...NEXT command. Example:

TopServo:
FOR counter1 = 400 to 1100 STEP 20
PULSOUT 7, counter1
PAUSE 20
NEXT
GOTO Main

STEP makes it rotate between 400 (start position) and 1100 (stop position) in 20 position increments, making the speed a little faster. Plus, decreasing PAUSE makes it loop through the routine faster as well.

I may need to get my hands on a smaller board for use in a wrist computer. This board is a little big I think (3x4"). I think it would have to be the whole computer, not just a piece, since it's large. There is always the option of placing the board into the backpack with the battery and routing a cable to a PCB at the wrist. I'll toy around with it...

Any suggestions are appreciated!

R.:
 
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Made some progress over the weekend setting up the hardware for controlling the servos from switches in my glove hand. I purchased a Flexiforce pressure switch from Parallax

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As you can see, it is very thin (.005") and extremely flexible. My plan is to run it down my arm to the inside of my glove

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so I can activate the servos with my thumb pressing against the inside of my finger

100_0101.jpg.gif



I have the code written for 2 of the 3 servos so far. Here's a sample of the BASIC code I'm using to measure the force applied to the Flexiforce:

Measure:
HIGH sensorPin
PAUSE 2
RCTIME sensorPin,1,rawForce
DEBUG Home, "Flexiforce raw output = ", dec rawForce,CR
IF rawForce > = 10000 then DeployServo
GOTO Measure


And finally, a shot of my test platform:

100_0097.jpg.gif



More to follow...


R.:
 
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