Wednesday, 04-02-2004
Whooooopppeeee!!!!
Yesterday i found a local source of expandable sleeving... today, a new breed of 'Lego' air muscle :)
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| Expandable sleeving! 3 different sizes, from top to bottom, 15mm, 10mm & 5mm flat width. | Aluminium tubes and rod... as moulds, to be dipped in latex. | 3 sizes of latex tube, from top to bottom (internal diameter) 10mm, 8mm and 4 mm. |
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| Constructing an air muscle. | Relaxed air muscle. | Charged air muscle. |
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| Relaxed supporting 1kg. | Charged, lifting 1kg! | |
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There you have it folks... a neat Lego compatable air muscle, weighing just 2.73 grammes and capable of lifting 1kg over 17mm. I didn't test with more than 1 kg as the muscle came apart with more weight... easily repaired tho :) The air muscle above will be just about right for J5's arms. I've also been researching electronic air actuators, they all seem to be a mechanical switch with a solenoid that moves the switch. Micro actuators that would be suitable for J5 cost about £70 each! J5 would need 1 actuator for each of his 28 muscles... 28 x £70 is out of reach for me! I think i may have a solution to making cheap electronic actuators, invloving magnets, coils and more latex... a pair of actuators, one for each opposing muscle can be run from 1 RCX motor port, 1 actuator runs off the forward current and the other runs of the reverse current. A little about the RCX motor ports... There must be a way of using the pulse timings to control more than 2 actuators from one motor port. A friend suggested a way of getting J5 to talk... I found a good cheap source of NdFeB (Neodymium) magnets...
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This page is part of a diary of the design and build of my Lego Mindstorms robot J5 (based on Johnny Five from the film short Circuit.)
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