We embarked on integrating a WidowX Robotic Arm controlled by an Arbotix - M Arduino with a robotic hand controlled by a Tiva C Series TM4C123G microcontroller. Through the microcontroller's Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter module, commands were sent to the microcontroller to make the hand and arm perform creative gestures and actions.
OTHER License
For our Introduction to Microcontrollers course final project, Evan Varga and I embarked on integrating a WidowX Robotic Arm controlled with an Arbotix - M Arduino, a robocontroller, with a HIWONDER Bionic hand controlled by a Tiva C Series TM4C123G microcontroller, creating an embedded system, to perform various hand and arm gestures, play a game and play an instrument.
Through the microcontroller's Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter (UART) module, commands can be sent to the microcontroller to cause the fingers of the HIWONDER bionic hand to move into certain positions through pulse-width modulations. These commands also cause digital signals to be sent through parallel communication to the Arbotix -M robotcontroller. These signals make the WidowX arm move into certain position or perform sequences of positions. All these working together lead to creative gestures and actions being performed.
PyPose.py
, to be mentioned below.There are 2 different folders containing the two major pieces of the project:
As the names imply, the former folder contains the code that programs the microcontroller and the UART that sends commands to the robocontroller using C, and the latter contains the code that programs the robocontroller using C++ and python.
Steps to install the programs:
PyPose.py
from the folder which will bring up the Arm position software.pypose.ino
on the robocontroller with Arduino 1.8.5 (Do so for all arduino files). This will work with the python software to capture the position of the robot arm by just moving it and pressing the capture button.main.ino
, and do so with poses.h
being in its same location. This contains the code that interfaces the robocontroller with the microcontroller. You can create more gestures and include the robot commands in it.To run the current capabilities of the WidowX_Arm_HIWONDER_Bionic_Hand-Interface, do the following:
main.c
of the project in Code Composer studio to install it on the microcontroller.main.ino
.main.c
mentioned.The following are pictures of the WidowX_Arm_HIWONDER_Bionic_Hand-Interface in performing different hand positions.
To capture new positions and sequences for the WidowX_Arm_HIWONDER_Bionic_Hand-Interface, do the following:
PyPose.py
.pypose.ino
.The image of how the pose capturing looks like is shown below:
This project was a result of the collaborative effort of:
This project is licensed under the “Commons Clause” License Condition v1.0. See LICENSE
for more information.
main.c
, spend less time in the interrupts