Software

SolidWorks

software used to adjust original design to account for interference issues and make links work for available hardware.

Matlab

used to simulate the position vectors of the mechanisms that were designed in Solidworks. Also allowed for calculation of angular velocities and magnitude of velocity vectors

Dynamixel Wizard

Robotis program used to control rotation of AX-12 motor

Arduino IDE

 software IDE used to upload code to control Stepper motor back when that was used as the input of energy into the system. Testing caused us to move to a differnet energy input system and control software.

Electronics

Dynamixel AX-12A

Robotis servo with stall torque of 1.5 Nm, operating at 12V and 1.5 Amps was used in the final design and build. Had previously used on a grad research project, so was familiar with the setup and software necessary for operation. Full specs can be found here

https://www.trossenrobotics.com/dynamixel-ax-12-robot-actuator.aspx#specifications

U2D2

Device that coverts USB communication to half-duplex protocol, necessary for controlling the Dynamixel servos. Interface between laptop, dynamixel power board, and actual servo

Dynamixel Power Board

power distribution board that provides energy to multiple Dynamixel servos (if multiple were connected). Requires 12V supply

Power Supply

Used a mobile Power Supply with three adjustable settings for varying amounts of voltage and current

Arduino Mega

micro controller used in controlling stepper motor before switch was made to servo

Motor Driver

 L298N motor controller was used to interface the power supply to the control board in order to power and control stepper motor with a 12 Volt input.