Leap Motion robot arm· Open-source project
Hold your hand over a Leap Motion sensor and a 3D-printed robot arm follows it. Show three fingers to start.
I printed and assembled a robot arm from a 3D model by Zortrax, and needed a way to control it. The arm, the Arduino and the G-code are standard parts. My part is the bridge from the hand to the arm: reading the hand with a Leap Motion and turning it into movement.
Customer: me. I printed and assembled the arm from a Zortrax 3D model, then wanted to drive it with something better than buttons.
I connect to the Leap Motion with leapjs and read the palm position and the extended fingers on every frame.
Each frame is compared with the last one. The difference becomes a small move on each axis, and anything under a threshold is ignored, so a steady hand does not shake the arm.
The moves go out as standard G-code over a serial port to an Arduino running GRBL, which drives the stepper motors through A4988 drivers.
The arm moves with A4988 stepper drivers. In this video I show how to set their Vref and wire them, and the mistakes to avoid.
Show three fingers and tracking begins. Until then the arm stays still.
A threshold filters out tiny movements, so the arm only follows real ones.
Plain G-code to GRBL on an Arduino. All the new work is in the hand tracking.
A 3D-printed arm with Nema 17 stepper motors, a CNC shield and A4988 drivers. The 3D model is Zortrax's.
Hardware: Arduino, Nema 17 stepper motors, CNC shield, A4988 drivers and a Leap Motion Controller v1. The 3D model of the arm is the property of Zortrax.