How to build a simple industral Robot Arm? - (Need quick start help)

[Mel_3]

We are researching online but maybe…
... Someone would be kind enough to help us narrow our search a little more quickly.

- We want to build a simple Robot Arm as used in industry.
- This will have an actual application but we are on a very small budget.
- We are looking for any how to we can use as reference material and to get general ideas of how things are typically done in these devices.

My guess is that we want 4 to 6 degrees of freedom

Basic Movements:
Base (rotating)
Upper Arm (up/down)
Fore Arm (up/down)
Wrist (twist)

Optional Movements: (Depending on cost)
Base  (tilt)
Upper Arm (twist)

Maybe more  but we really need to keep this simple to keep the cost down.

Lifting ability is under consideration. One to ten pounds is my guess right now.

We need to find suppliers for as many modular components as necessary… motors, controllers, etc.

We can probably do this from scratch but it sure would be nice to catch up on standard solutions that are being applied today.

Thanks to anyone for any help.

Mel_3

[ArcMan]

A buddy of mine at work, who was also on a shoestring budget, bought a used industrial robot at an industrial surplus house.  That might be your best bet for a big boy like that.

[izua]

You can get away with servos for small weights (under 200 grams / 0.4 pounds).
But for anything heavier than that, you will need stepper motors/DC servos with encoders, which won't fit in a small budget, not even for 3 axis.

[Admin]

Remember to search, its all here on SoR

http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_arm_tutorial.shtml
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_arm_card_dealer.shtml
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_ERP.shtml#gripper
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_arm_calculator.shtml