Optical Isolation Board Final Version

Below is the first design of the opto-isolater this was made off our breadboard designs and only controlled one motor at a time.

This was then redesigned to accommodate for all the motors.

Motor Driver Board Final Version

We have re-produced the motor driver board for all five motors based on our prototype design below.

Here is the final circuit design for the motor driver board, this has been developed as PCB and can be download on this blog.

Camera

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How to connect the raspberry pi with the camera?

First you open up the pi's connectors on the pi by pulling out the tab then you take the camera module and you must make sure the connectors on the flex are facing away from the Ethernet port which is next to the pi's connectors and then just place the ribbon cable into the connectors. Cameron designed and built a mount of the camera to have a secure place on the robotic arm, he achieved this by using a software called solid works. When he finally had the finished design he used the 3D printer to create the mould.

Cymraeg

Sut i gysylltu yr Raspberry Pi gyda'r camera?

Yn gyntaf byddwch yn agor yr cysylltwyr y pi trwy dynnu allan y tab, yna byddwch yn cymrud y modiwl camera ac sicrhau bod y fflecs ar y cysylltwyr yn wynebu i ffwrdd y porthladd ethernet sydd yn ymyl cysylltwyr y pi. Wedyn gosod y cabl rhybun i mewn i'r pi. Cynlluniwyd a adeiladodd Cameron mynydd i'r camera cael ei lleoli yn man diogel ar y fraich, defnyddiodd e meddalwedd or enw 'Solid Works'. Pan gorfennaf Cameron y dylunio roedd yn barod ir 3D printer i printor dyluniad.

Brief Update On Whats Going On

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Since the last time we updated, there have been quite a lot of things that we've been very busy with, always to trying to add to the functions and uses of the Robotic Arm. Recently (myself) Jesse, Harry and Matthew have all been trying to incorporate a switch into the already mess of wires connecting the Raspberry Pi and Robotic Arm together. The reason we've been doing this is because we want the Robotic arm to move in a certain sequence whenever the button is pressed. It’ll run through a program that will cause it to move into a specific position and then capture an image of whatever is in front of it, with a small front mounted camera. Once the picture is taken, the Arm will then move back into its original position. Quite a lot for the Arm to do with only one button press, that’s why we’re still working on it. Hopefully by the next time we update this will be working perfectly.  

Twitter

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Recently we have created a twitter account for the robotic arm. The purpose of this was to display photos when people were to tweet a specific hash tag. The hash tag we chose for testing purposes was #30PI. The code that we wrote was written so that when someone tweeted our hashtag, our program would search twitter for #30PI the camera would activate and take a photo and instantly upload it to twitter. This is a great way for people to understand why we are using this robotic arm when we present our work in the Celtic Manor. For the show you can activate this yourself by using #SayRaspberry. Come and give us a follow on twitter the check out on more updates - @PiRobotic

Cymraeg

Yn ddiweddar rydym wedi creu cyfrif twitter gyfer y fraich robotig. Pwrpas hyn oedd i arddangos lluniau pan fydd pobl yn cael tweet tag hash penodol. Mae'r tag hash rydym yn dewis ar gyfer dibenion profi oedd # 30PI. Y Cod yr ydym yn ysgrifennu ei ysgrifennu fel bod pan fydd rhywun yn tweeted ein hashtag, byddai ein rhaglen yn chwilio am twitter # 30pi byddai'r camera activate a chymryd llun ac yn syth lwytho i fyny ar twitter. Mae hon yn ffordd wych i bobl ddeall pam ein bod yn defnyddio hwn braich robotig pan fyddwn yn cyflwyno ein gwaith yn y Celtic Manor. Ar gyfer y sioe, gallwch activate hyn eich hun drwy ddefnyddio #SayRaspberry. Rhowch dylynol i ni are twitter i gweld mwy o ddiweddariadau - @PiRobotic.

Our Trip To University Of South Wales

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We spent 3 days down the University of South Wales to work on our project with supervision from Engineers who are placed in the University. The 3 days at the University were very successful, as we completed more work than we needed. Marc took all the original circuits and the prototype circuits and built the final designs. Callum and Scott created the power point ready to be presented down the Celtic Manor. Harry, Jesse and Matthew were all working on the power supplies that Scott, Cameron and Jordan created and Jordan and Cameron were creating pot holders to create on a 3D printer to add components onto the robotic arm.

Cymraeg

Rydym yn treulio 3 diwrnod i lawr y Prifysgol De Cymru i weithio ar ein prosiect gyda goruchwyliaeth gan Beirianwyr sy'n cael eu lleoli yn y Brifysgol . Y 3 diwrnod i lawr y Brifysgol yn llwyddiannus iawn , wrth i ni gwblhau mwy o waith nag yr ydym ei angen . Cymerodd Marc yr holl gylchedau gwreiddiol a'r cylchedau prototeip ac adeiledig y dyluniadau terfynol. Callum a Scott greodd y pwynt pŵer yn barod i'w gyflwyno i lawr y Celtic Manor . Roedd Harry , Jesse a Matthew i gyd yn gweithio ar y cyflenwadau pŵer sydd Scott , Cameron a Jordan greu a Jordan a Cameron yn creu deiliaid pot i greu ar argraffydd 3D i ychwanegu cydrannau ar y fraich robotig . 

It's alive!

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Today we had meeting with Iain Shewring in the college, we set up a demonstration with the raspberry pi connected to the motor driver circuit. We showed our progress by moving motors using the Pi. After speaking with Iain, he suggested improvements in the coding and a possibility of connecting a PS3 pad via Bluetooth to control the robotic arm.

Cymraeg

Heddiw, yr oeddem wedi cyfarfod â Iain Shewring yn y coleg, rydym yn sefydlu arddangosiad gyda'r raspberry pi sydd wedi gysylltu â'r gylched gyrrwr modur.Rydym yn ddangos ein cynnydd drwy symud modur wrth ddefnyddio'r Pi. Ar ôl siarad â Iain, awgrymodd welliannau yn y cod a posibilrwydd o gysylltu pad PS3 drwy Bluetooth i reoli y fraich robotig.



Opto isolation breadboard & Motor driver (PCB)



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Harry and Jesse have successfully designed and built a motor control board to control two motors (circuit design below), they have started building the second one as well. The opto isolator circuit has been built on breadboard (circuit diagram below) by me and Callum, after building the circuit we attempted to turn on a led with it. This was successfully done.

Cymraeg

Mae Harry a Jesse wedi dylunio ac adeiladu bwrdd rheolaeth echddygol i reoli dau modur (mae'r dyluniad cylched isod) yn llwyddiannus, yr oeddem nhw wedi dechrau adeiladu yr ail un hefyd. Mae'r gylched opto isolator wedi ei adeiladu ar bread board (diagram cylched isod) gan Marc a Callum, ar ôl adeiladu'r gylched rydym yn ceisio troi ar arweinir ag ef.

Motor driver circuit design /  Cylched dylunio modur gyrrwr.

Opto isolation being tested / Ynysu opto yn cael eu profi.

Opto isolater circuit diagram / Cylched dylunio opto isolator.

Motor driver successful

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Harry and Jesse have built the motor control circuit on breadboard using L293D (link here) and successfully controlled a motor. Scott and Cameron have decided to use potentiometer to give a resistive feedback to the Pi. The opto isolator has arrived, I and Callum have started building the circuit on breadboard.

Cymraeg

Mae Harry a Jesse wedi adeiladu cylched rheolaeth echddygol ar  Breadboard gan ddefnyddio yr L293D (dolen yma) a reoli yr modur yn llwyddiannus. Mae Scott a Cameron wedi penderfynu defnyddio potensiomedr i roi adborth resistive i'r Pi. Mae'r Opto Isolator wedi cyrraedd, mae Marc a Callum wedi dechrau adeiladu'r gylched ar Breadboard.



This a picture of motor driver built on bread board. / Dyma llun o'r modur gyrrwr sydd wedi gael ei adeiladu a'r Breadboard.

The arm has arrived!

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The robotic arm kit arrived from Maplins and has been built by Harry, Jesse and Matthew. Harry and Jesse have chosen a H bridge microprocessor to control the motors with, as it's very easy to change the direction of the motor. Marc and Callum have researched protecting the raspberry pi, we decided after reading a Linux article on pi protection (link here) that a opto isolater chip would be the best solution.

Cymraeg

Mae'r cit braich robotig gan Maplins wedi cyrraedd ac wedi ei adeiladu gan Harry, Jesse a Matthew. Mae Harry a Jesse wedi dewis pont microbrosesydd H i reoli'r moduron gyda, gan ei fod yn hawdd iawn i newid cyfeiriad y modur. Mae Marc a Callum wedi ymchwilio amddiffyn y Raspberry Pi, penderfynwyd ar ôl darllen erthygl Linux ar amddiffyn pi y byddai'r chip Opto Isolator fod yr ateb gorau.

Breakdown of the project

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We decided on the four main parts of the project;

• Motor Control: This is the main part of project without the ability to control the motors and the direction, there would be no project. 
• Raspberry Pi Protection: When we sat down and discussed what would needed to do, we realized that the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins needed protection from any voltage spikes that may occur. 
• Code: We decided to write the code for project in python as we thought it was most appropriate language to use. 
• Motor Sensor: We wanted the program that we are going to code on the Pi, to be able to recognize each motor's limit. Due to all motors being DC and not feeding any data back we decided that external sensors would have to be fitted. 

We then assigned roles to different team members. I was given the role of team leader and tasked with building the raspberry pi protection board with Callum Bown. Scott and Cameron where given the task of fitting a sensor to the motors. Harry and Jesse job is to build motor control circuits. Jordan and Matthew where given the task of creating the code.

Cymraeg

Rydym yn penderfynu ar y pedwar prif ran y project;
• Rheoli Modur: Dyma brif ran prosiect heb y gallu i reoli'r moduron a'r cyfeiriad, ni fyddai unrhyw brosiect heb hyn.
• Diogel Raspberry Pi: Pan fyddwn yn eistedd i lawr a'i drafod beth fyddai ei angen i wneud, rydym yn sylweddoli bod y pinnau Raspberry Pi GPIO angen eu hamddiffyn rhag unrhyw pigau foltedd a allai ddigwydd.
• Cod: Rydym yn penderfynu ysgrifennu cod ar gyfer y prosiect yn python wrth i ni meddwl ei fod yn iaith fwyaf priodol i'w defnyddio.
• Synhwyrydd Modur: Roeddem am y rhaglen ein bod yn mynd i cod ar y Pi, i allu adnabod terfyn pob modur yn. Oherwydd yr holl moduron yn cael DC ac nid fwydo unrhyw ddata yn ôl penderfynwyd y byddai'n rhaid eu gosod synwyryddion allanol.

Yna byddwn yn neilltuo rolau i wahanol aelodau'r tîm. Cefais rôl arweinydd tîm a dasg o adeiladu'r bwrdd diogelu pi mafon gyda Callum Bown. Scott a Cameron lle cael y dasg o osod synhwyrydd at y moduron. Harry a Jesse swydd yw adeiladu cylchedau rheoli modur. Jordan a Matthew lle cael y dasg o greu y cod.

Start of the project

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The project brief is to use a Raspberry Pi to control the movements of a Maplin's robotic arm. The project is being undertaken by eight members, these include Marc, Scott, Cameron, Callum, Harry, Jordan, Matthew and Jesse.

Cymraeg

Mae'r briff y prosiect yw defnyddio yr Raspberry Pi i reoli symudiadau Braich Robotig  Maplin yn. Mae'r prosiect yn cael ei gynnal gan wyth aelod, mae hyn yn cynnwys Marc, Scott, Cameron, Callum, Harry, Jordan, Matthew a Jesse.