3D Printed Arduino Robot Arm Launched on Kickstarter

This is a project that I have been a part of for a few weeks. It is a low cost robot arm primarily for STEM and hobby.

We have taken it to kickstarter in order to get the ball rolling.

This has a been a fun project, because, like a software, it moved incredibly quickly. We went through multiple designs in a matter of days. And we had basically the full product in a couple of weeks.

Support the project on Kickstarter so we can get a very versatile and low cost robot into the hands of kids everywhere.

Raptor: 3-D printed prosthetic hand

I designed the Raptor to be a basic terminal prosthetic hand that could be 3-D printed. There are only 4 pieces that are printed and they can be made at a home printer.

I designed the Raptor hand for a design competition on GrabCAD. As of this post the competition is still up.

If you would like to print the Raptor yourself here are all the files that you need

If you would like me to design a custom application prosthetic for you feel free to contact me.

Here was a demo of the prototype. I used shockcord and paracord as the cables which is way to bulky. In future I will likely use small steel cable a maybe just rubber bands.

Slant Robotics

I have formed a new branch of Slant Concepts...Slant Robotics. The "Jerry" Project is going to become an official product. Jerry is now being built in Nampa, Idaho with a projected reveal of a finished product at the end of April. Jerry is going to be the home robot that everyone has imagined.

Be sure to follow the project of Twitter or Facebook.

Jerry Project: Update

Here are some pictures of a couple final prototype designs for Jerry, a low cost, vision-based, personal robot. I also added the first official teaser video. The real prototype will be soon to follow.

The Jerry personal robot with all actuated components opened and extended

The Jerry personal robot with arm retracted and an added screen for improved telepresence functionality.

Incurve Spherical Robot

For my senior design project I was the chief designer of the internal mechanisms of a spherical robot. Both actuated degrees of freedom have a full range of motion unlike any other spherical robot built. Additionally the team was able to design an original non-holonomic controller for the omni-directional system we were pursuing.

The photos below show the design progression that the system took. All the CAD seen is my own original work (Except for the shell in the final image). I apologize some concepts were abandoned before they could be completed.

Original Concept and Outline

Full Aluminum Truss-Like Structure

Hybrid Wood-Aluminum with Linear Actuator

Hybrid Material with Offset Planes of Rotation

Final Design Designed for Controller Simplification

Final Design of the Incurve Spherical Robot

Jerry

This is a project that I have been working on for some time. Jerry is my foray into personal robotics. He will begin as a telepresence robot and then develop into an AI robot home assistant. A quick conceptual design is shown in the rendering below.

WhiteCapStudios

WhiteCapStudios is a new podcast channel that I started on SoundCloud to try comedy and music publishing. I have some short stand-up comedy routines as well as original piano songs.

See WhiteCapStudios

The Space Economy Book

I finally collected all of the essays I wrote, along with Dan Hermes, into a book. "The Space Economy" is on Kindle and will be available in print. It is my little contribution to the industry until I start building hardware for it.

The Space Economy on Amazon

ERAU Housing Internal Site

This was a basic functional website that I had intended for the ERAU Department of Housing and Residence Life to utilize for internal communication and collaboration. I created multiple tools and portals that were meant to make the Resident Assistant job easier.

I was an RA when I built this site. The department didn't want to run with it. So it was a failed project, but still a useful one. If you would like to take a look go ahead and visit it. The password it "hi'

Note: ERAU is not affiliated with the creation of the site in any way. I edited some of the website's functionality to protect department information.

Personal Submarine

This is a project that I found from a few years ago that I thought would be cool to share.

It is a design for a faceted personal submarine. It would have what are essentially trolling motors on the end of each fin. The two from fins can be angled by the pilot to turn and even submerge the sub because of the V-like design.

While not shown in this first Google Sketch-up Design the sides of the sub would have ballast tanks that would make it neutrally buoyant so the motors could take over.

The windows would be supported by steel bars so that the large panes don't have to support the water pressure entirely.

The faceted design was to make sure that the sub would be cheap to manufacture. You could just weld the panels over the internal frame. No molding.

This project could be changed to a pull behind sub, where it it is towed by a boat and the fins force it under the water. But then it would need to be a little sleeker. And the front fins need to be moved forward no matter what. So sue me I designed it in an hour.

Cardboard Robot

I was playing with the idea of a cheaper robotics platform. So I cranked out this head and hand using some old shipping boxes, servos, and an arduino.

Wooden Gear Winch

This was a project in my Machine Design class. We had to make a super basic winch, which is boring as all get out. So I decided to make the gears out of wood, it was battle to convince the team, but totally worth it.

I used a band saw to carve them out of 5 ply construction board. They worked great and the winch made a great clacking noise when it ran.

We ended up being the only winch that worked perfectly on the first try. We also lifted the maximum weight available. We still don't know what the winch's limit is but it is well over 200 lbs.

It was ugly as all get out, but we were in a hurry. Function over form in this project. It only costs 35$ of pulleys and raw materials.

The large flap was  a widow-women brake

Slant Concepts

Slant is the reincarnated version of Universal Mechanisms. While still basically in development we are operating with what we have.

Slant is a product micro-production and development firm. We focus on the creation of a quantity of ideas instead of a quantity of product units. Meaning we like to try one thing and if it doesn't work we move on to the next. Instead of working to develop the "One-Hit Wonder" of products we work to create good products for niche markets. We are the opposite of the mass production model.

Since Slant is based on micro-production we focus on the creation of products that can be stored digitally, which eliminates the need to store physical inventory. This means that we do a lot of 3-D printing and self-publishing. Something is made when it is purchased.

I currently run Slant alone from a dorm room. But when I need help I bring in friends and free-lancers. I suppose that 'we' is really just the rolodex of people that have helped when Slant was UniMech and will be helping with the development of Slant in the future.

Pot Hooks

These pot hooks were something that I threw together to replace cloth potholders and oven mitts. I wanted something that would not be burned and could be washed easily with other utensils. So I made something that could get a good hold on any kind of handle. I use a pair of them in the kitchen but they are also pretty handy for camping.

"Precarious" Engineering Game

"Precarious" is basically the reverse of "Pickup Sticks" or "Jenga." Instead of taking pieces away until the tower falls, players add pieces until the tower falls.

Players build from the two "foundation" blocks attempting to create an unstable structure that will force the other player(s) to cause it to collapse while not doing so themselves. The stucture is "collapsed" whenever any piece other than the "foundation" blocks touches the tabletop. Since there are limited pieces, players must make the structure become precarious quickly in order to win before the game becomes a draw from lack of pieces.

It is a lot of fun to play because it can either be very strategy intensive, for the expert, or just a pastime, for the average player. Changes in the arrangement of the "foundation" blocks changes the difficulty and type of structures. It can even be played alone to set records of highest tower or most pieces. It is incredibly versatile.

I am planning to begin building game sets and probably selling them on Etsy. I'll add a link when I'm ready.

Thumb-Biased Smartphone GUI

How many of use are able to use our smartphone with only a single hands. Not many, most of us hold the device with one hand and use the finger of our other hand to navigate and select buttons. This is because using the thumb of the hand holding the device usually isn't very easy.

Most App buttons today are designed horizontally. Stretching across the screen to allow for symmetry and a limited ability to use the thumb. But with the tap of  just-2 buttons becoming the standard should we not work to optimize a one-handed UI?

So I have started to incorporate an idea I had into my projects. It is a Thumb-Biased GUI. What I have done is made the GUI adjust to the dominate hand of the user. If I have an app that simply needs the user to tap a few times for approval or the like, then I create, instead of a large horizontal button button, a tall vertical button set to the side of the screen near the thumb.

This system let's the user operate the app with the hand holding the device, with little to no fear of smearing across the wrong buttons, especially if there is only a single button. And the user doesn't have to work as hard to reposition the phone so that their finger aligns with the buttons.

You can see a general outline of my GUI concept below.

Tension Desk

This was a thing I came up with when I was working on making furniture that could be stored and moved more easily. This certainly does it. The prototype looks like junk because that was all that I had laying around. When I rebuild it it will be solid stock and will have a much better look similar to the CAD drawings. I use the prototype for a design desk, since I can easily change the angle of the surface.

    

"Whop" robot toy

The Whop was a toy that I made for my baby niece. A project that started as a robotic pet turned into an oversimplified walker. It is incredibly soft and cuddly and when the antennas are touched it walks forward with a simple waddle. I will probably return to this project to make it a full blown automation but it is still awesome as is.

       

HeritageTold.com

www.heritagetold.com

This is a project that I am particularly proud of. HeritageTold is a website dedicated to storing the wisdom and experience of generations before they are lost. Today everything is stored on facebook or twitter but what about the generations before the computer. These people do not communicate on the computer and they are slowly being lost and thier experiences with them. Heritage told is working to collect the experiences from these people before they are lost. 

We currently take submissions in text but are working to enhance the site with video and voice recording. We're are still in early development.

Bring 'R' Up

bringrup.com

This is a food courier service that has become a subsidiary of my company Universal Mechanisms. Bring 'R' Up delivers groceries from local stores right to the customer's door using only a generic shopping list provided by the customer on our site.