Re: simple robotics project

Joe Strout wrote:
In article <1180467850.104022.209040@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
dmehling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:


Couldn't I just determine through trial and error how many times the
motor needs to rotate in order for the arm to reach the desired
height.


I'm assuming that you already know that. The issue is, how does the controller know, at any given point in time, how many times it has rotated? For that you need a sensor.

If this is a fixed-position pick and place application, you
can do everything with limit switches.

Or even cams. (http://www.camcoindex.com)

Even today, much industrial automation is purely mechanical.
Once, at a Detroit robot show, I stopped by the Camco exhibit,
where indexers, turntables, and pick and place machines were
picking up objects, dropping them into slots on turntables,
moving them onto slotted conveyor chains, putting them into feeders,
and endlessly cycling them through the exhibit. None of this
was computerized, or even electronic. The whole setup
was running perfectly, with one sales guy standing around.
As a friend remarked, "It may not be high-tech, but it's very
well debugged".


John Nagle
.

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