Have sorted a few problems getting the Atlas to 'Total Coincidence' - Datum Position - Mainly dogy infrared alignment on the wrist axis. Still have to find a coupling for swivel and a better limit switch for 'out-in'.
Constucted a home brew teach pendant but ran out of diodes to complete it. The attached video is a bit of testing in one direction only with me touching a wire on to the push button pins. (that's why it's a bit jerky).
Awesome job so far! Is that thing really as -loud- as the video makes it seem?
I've always wanted a Microbot and/or an Armdroid (I'd also take a vintage Rhino, too); unfortunately, by the time I was able to buy one, the collector market spun them out into the "unaffordable" zone again. So, I guess I have to satisfy my robot arm wants with the various Armatron models I've collected, and the couple of OWI-535s I have (none being anywhere near as nice as that Atlas, of course - though the Armatrons are a collectible, in their own way).
Progress is being made. More to come. - This takes me back to my days as a Unimate service engineer.
Interesting - got any stories of that time? Did you work on large Unimates, or smaller machines (like the Puma)? As a kid (and even now), I was fascinated by robots in general, and really enjoyed reading about industrial robots in particular. The strange thing was, for some reason I never had a "sense of scale" about the original Unimate arm. Then one day I was browsing a local industrial equipment reseller in Arizona (Equipment Exchange), and happened upon in their vast warehouse a Unimate - I was extremely impressed with it's size (it was almost as large as my Ford Ranger I was driving at the time). I had never realized just how large it was compared to a person, and could easily respect it from a machine perspective (that is, if that thing was on and moving, stay well away from it).
Does it seem strange that I thought your Atlas was going to pick up that guitar and play it (how with only one gripper/arm, I dunno - but, hey...lol)?