bracket for an X-Y turret for a
camera (Figure 7) for a full sized
robot we are working on. Perhaps
you will see details of these projects
in a future article.
EZ-robot ( www.EZ-robot.com)
is taking mechanical modularity to a
new level. Their servomotors come in
two styles: lever (Figure 8) and
rotational (Figure 9). What makes
them unique is that they just snap
together to form arms and legs, or
anything else you can dream up.
Mounting plates and extensions
(Figure 10) are even available to help
you create your designs. EZ-robot
offers other mechanical
assemblies, as well as complete
kits to build a variety of robots as
shown in Figure 11.
It’s easy to create customized
robots by using individual parts
from the EZ collection. Figures
12 and 13, for example, shows
an arm we snapped together to
augment the RB- 9 from
RobotBASIC ( www.RobotBASIC
.org). Mounting the arm was
extremely easy; we just bolted a
mounting plate to the top of the
RB- 9 chassis and clipped on the
servos we wanted.
Notice how the arm is further customized
by using one small and one large extension.
EZ-robot’s gripper has no sensory feedback,
but we plan to remedy that for future
projects that will use this arm.
The reusable modularity of EZ-robot parts
should be very exciting for hobbyists. Not
only is the technology inexpensive, but it
makes creating new platforms a snap.
Figures 14 and 15 show how easy it is to
create a simple four-legged robot to
experiment with various walking gates and
balancing algorithms. Four mounting plates
for the legs were simply screwed to small
pieces of wood. Notice that each leg is made
from two lever servos: one rotational servo
and the feet are short extensions.
The products we have briefly described
here definitely show a trend toward
mechanical modularity for hobby robotics. Just
as electronic modules have become cheaper
and more diversified, it is likely that Figure 11.
40 SERVO 12.2014
Figure 7.
Figure 8. Figure 9.
Figure 10.
