Robot Hand
We made a robotic hand out of foam and other materials that is controlled by servo motors and an Arduino.
Supplies
- elastics
- sanding block
- paper clips
- markers
- exacto knife
- needle
- plyers
- fishing line foam
- servo motors
- arduino nano
- glue gun
- glove
- Styrofoam
Measurements and Cutting
- Trace out models hand onto piece of paper
- Take measurements of the fingers and palm
- trace out rectangular prism onto foam with measurements taken from the previous step
- cut the rectangular prism out of the foam
- repeat steps 3 and 4 for every finger
- shave rectangular prisms into cylinder with hemisphere on top using the sanding block
- mark where the joints would be on the fingers
- cut the marks at a 45 degree angle with exacto knife to make the truncated cylinders
- trace out models palm and wrist onto foam with marker
- cut out the palm and wrist with exacto knife
- shave the edges of the wrist and palm
the measurements were:
Thumb – 2.6/6cm
Index – 3/8cm
Middle – 2.4/8.5cm
Ring – 2.4/8.5cm
Pinky – 2.1/6.5cm
Assembling the Hand
- take needle and tie fishing line to the end
- tread the needle through the middle of the three truncated cylinder
- thread needle at a 45 degree angle into the palm of your hand
- leave extra fishing line on each end of the hand
- tie a knot at the top of the finger
- Using a hot glue gun Glue the knot in place
- cut the excess fishing line from the top of the finger
- cut hooks out of paper clips using plyers
- insert hooks into palm and wrist to hold the fishing line in place
- repeat for all remaining fingers
Attaching Elastics
- align finger joints so that the longer sides are facing up
- cut the elastics into small pieces
- rest a piece of elastic to connect the two joints
- hot glue both ends to the finger segments to connect the segments
- repeat this for all joints
Attaching Servos
- trace the servo motor onto the bottom of the palm
- cut out the traced piece with the exacto knife
- use plyers to extract the excess pieces of the foam
- insert the servo motors into the cut out rectangular prism
- tie the end of the fishing line from the fingers onto the servo motor