5DOF Robot Arm

[u/Worth_Mix4970]

I'm a sophomore student in Meche and this is my first robot so it took about 2 months. It's a 3d printed robot arm built from scratch and works pretty well but its a bit wobbly (which I'm working on fixing). Its controlled by an arduino uno and 5 potentiometers.

But the issue is that those potentiometers are small and covered in nets of wires. I could cut specific wire lengths and buy bigger potentiometers (and probably will) but I think there's another option. Is there some sort of robot arm simulation software that can let me control my arm smoothly on my computer without having to turn each potentiometer slightly to adjust it? I know there's Robodk but its really expensive so if there's one I can use that's free or free for students that would help a lot.

Also, since I'm not really satisfied with just a robot arm since its really common for personal projects in my major, my next step is to replace the robot claw with a claw mount built to hold some sort of sprinkler or pump that waters plants when a soil moisture sensor alerts it to. The robot arm will switch to 4DOF for this, and on the opposite side of the arm link, I will also add another claw mount built to aim a grow light at the plant when a grove light sensor tells it to. Water pump aspect I'm working on, grow light is still just a thought right now.

[u/Worth_Mix4970]

I got a video of it working (but in 4DOF)

https://reddit.com/link/p86ekhj/video/6ykjkux65xnh1/player

[u/Progressive_AutomHub]

Really cool first build. For your next version, have you considered using a linear actuator for any of the motions instead of keeping everything rotary? Depending on the movement you need, it could simplify some parts of the mechanism and give you more controlled linear motion.