Algodoo

A first try for a simple robot arm, control with keys 0 .. 8

All motors are in the wheels on the left, all forces to move the various parts of the arm are passed through rods and hindges in the joints of the robot.

The next step would be to make a device to control the arm to move pre-programmed sequences, picking up and stacking blocks, for example.

If anybody with more phun-experience could spend a minute on this scene for some help: I can`t find the proper balance between joint/motor strenght and material weight to get the robot arm stable and light. If I make the material lighter, the lower hinges are no longer strong enough to support the whole arm, but if I make the material more heavy, the motors need to be even stronger. Whatever I try, the robot is always heavy and wobbly - Any tips are appreciated.

I`m also interested in any solutions on how to move the gripper relative to the outer joint of the robot, since now the gripper has an `absolute` rotation, so it opens and closes when the third joint is moving.

So, there`s a lot to fix still.